At 12:03 a.m. New Year’s Day, Maryland couple Brenda and Reynauld Sabuni welcomed their third son, Lael. He may have been their third, but hospital officials believe he’s the first baby of the new year.
He was born at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, and according to Scott Graham, director of Emergency Preparedness for Holy Cross Health, Lael is likely the first baby born in the region in 2023.
Lael weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and mother and baby were doing well, Graham said.
“We deliver over 9,000 babies a year,” he said. “But there’s something special about that first baby of the new year.” Medical staff at the hospital had a bassinet decorated for the first baby, complete with balloons in the shape of 2023.
Graham said the Sabunis, of Silver Spring, arrived at the hospital on New Year’s Eve.
When baby Lael was born three minutes after midnight, Graham said, “We knew that that was probably the first one of the new year in the DMV.”