KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Meet Melvin Rodriguez, a baby boy who AdventHealth Celebration said was born just seconds after the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, earning him the title “first born of the new year” for the regional hospital system.
The baby was delivered at 12:00:05 a.m. on Saturday, according to a news release.
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The seven pound, 10 ounce and 20-inch-long little guy was born to parents Jesenia González Colón and Brian Rodríguez, both from Oviedo, according to the release.
At Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, a baby boy named Raheem was also delivered during the first minute of 2022, according to a news release.
Baby Raheem, coming in at six pounds, 11.7 ounces, is his family’s third child. To mark the occasion, Central Florida Diaper Bank CEO Sharon Lyles said that a year’s supply of diapers, roughly 3,600, will be donated to Raheem’s parents.
“We wanted to make the donation to help the families reduce the cost of diapers, which are costly, and to help give their babies a healthy start,” Lyles said.
In Brevard County, officials at Health First said that three babies were born between 2:35 a.m. and 3:13 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
One of them was a baby girl born to parents Kalei and Logan Edmonson of Palm Bay. The couple was still deciding on a name for the girl — who measured 20 inches and weighed seven pounds, 15 ounces at birth — and joked that the whole event could have been timed better.
“We really were hoping for a New Year’s Eve baby! We were trying to get the little [tax] deductions and compensation for her being stubborn,” the couple said.
Health First officials said that their three New Year’s Day babies and their mothers are all doing fine.