It's not unusual for New Year's to get lost in the shuffle for the busy family, but now, with a New Year's Day birthday in the family, Kathleen said that's bound to change.
"Now we have an excuse to party," she said.
James, a government contractor, and Kathleen, a stay-at-home mom, have been married 10 years and lived in West Virginia for nine. They hadn't planned on another baby, James said, but this spring, he was sent on a business trip to Puerto Rico that fell during Kathleen's birthday, and they took the opportunity for a vacation without the kids.
"We brought back an extra souvenir," James said.
When the couple got to the hospital at about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, Kathleen said she wasn't thinking about the fact that her baby might be the hospital's first in 2008.
"I didn't think at 8:30, 9 in the morning, no one would have had a baby," she said.
Washington County Hospital's first baby of the year was born at 5:47 a.m., but other Tri-State area maternity departments were quiet all morning and afternoon. At Chambersburg (Pa.) Hospital, a baby boy was born to Sophia Aquino-Velasco and Alfonso Bautista at 7:16 p.m.
Baby Quinn's delivery, a cesarean-section, went quickly and smoothly, James said.
Later that morning, he brought the twins, Kaileyne and James Edward ("Jet"), to see their new baby brother.
"They said they'll keep him," Kathleen said.
The twins, who turn 6 in February, said the baby was cute, and they were interested in everything, from holding him to trying to feed him, Kathleen said.
"They're going to be my big helpers," she said.
For his good timing, Quinn will be going home with a handmade blanket and hat from the hospital staff - and the special status that comes with being born Jan. 1.
"It's a birthday I know I'll never forget," James said. "Everybody will always be celebrating."
