ST. GEORGE— Baby New Year 2019 of St. George made his entrance into the world at 11:36 a.m. New Year’s Day, marking the first of several milestones for both the family and the hospital.
Emmett Mitsugi Joslin was born to Jacob and Amelia Joslin weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.
“He’s awesome. Got lots of hair, really healthy,” Emmett’s new dad said. “He looks like me, that’s pride for me.”
Besides being the first child for the Joslins, Emmett is also the first baby to be born in St. George in 2019 and the first Baby New Year to be born in Dixie Regional Medical Center’s new Women and Newborn Center.
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“It was kind of cool to know that we were the first baby in this hospital,” Jacob Joslin said. “Either way we would have loved it and been excited, but it was just kind of a nice little ‘oh that’s cool’ kind of thing.”
Emmett was due Jan. 4, but the Joslins, who live in Cedar City, said they suspected he might be coming earlier and decided to drive down to spend the night in St. George with Jacob Joslin’s parents Monday night just in case.
While spending time with family Monday night, Amelia Joslin went into labor, and the couple checked into DRMC.
The couple said that one of their nurses, who was excited at the possibility of their baby being the “New Year Baby,” had joked that they were going to “be the winners” and have Baby New Year 2019.
“She was so fun to have. We were excited,” Amelia Joslin said.
The labor progressed quickly, even though Emmett was in a posterior position, and the possibility of Emmett being the first baby became more of a possibility. Although another baby was close to being delivered, the couple joked that the friendly competition was motivation to push harder, and Emmett was born just 30 minutes later.
“Now we’re just exhausted,” his mom said, “but we’re really happy.”
Both the mother and baby are doing well and have received many excited visitors who came to meet the new addition to their family.
DRMC Communications Director Terri Draper said the first baby represents all of the new lives that are born at the hospital.
“It’s just such a great experience to see a new couple happy with their tiny new baby, especially in this case, the first baby, to join that new family,” Draper said. “It’s really a privilege for us to be involved in that. … To see the grandpa and grandma and the cousins and all the people coming to celebrate that new life, it’s pretty tender.”
DRMC presented the family of Baby New Year with a gift basket full of blankets, toys, onesies, sleepers and gift certificates to congratulate them and help them start their new life as a family.
While Emmett was the first baby to be born in 2019, approximately 2,400 babies were born at DRMC in 2018.
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