Region's first baby of 2017, due on Three Kings Day, comes just in time for new year
New London — Amarih James Bowers was due to be born on Three Kings Day, the traditional Christian feast day celebrated on Jan. 6 that commemorates the birth of Jesus and the biblical story of the Three Wise Men bringing him gifts.
That’s the day that Amarih’s mom, Charlene Manko, was hoping for.
But her Three Kings Day present came a little early, right on time to be the first local baby born in 2017.
At 7 pounds, 4 ounces, the New Year baby had plenty of company in the maternity ward at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Three other babies joined him before noon on Sunday, the first day of 2017, according to hospital spokesman Michael O'Farrell.
Manko said she went to the hospital Friday for a scheduled appointment, and because she had high blood pressure, her doctor decided to admit her until the baby arrived.
And arrive he did, just after 1 a.m. on Sunday morning.
"His birthdays from now on are going to be 'party all the time,'" Manko said as she held her son in her L+M hospital bed Sunday afternoon.
Amarih will have an older sister to party with: Manko's 10-year-old daughter, Amyah, had not yet met her new brother but planned to visit Sunday.
"She's so excited," Manko said. "She’s very caring and nurturing … I want to see them together so bad."
WTNH reported Sunday that the first baby born in 2017 in Connecticut came just one minute after midnight at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown.
No babies were born on Sunday before at least 8:30 p.m. at The William W. Backus in Norwich, according to a spokesman.
Amarih slept while Manko spoke, the hours-old infant wrapped in a blanket and wearing an L+M cap on his head.
“Now he's just taking it easy," she said. "I'm waiting for him to burst out. I want to see his character a little bit."
“He’s an angel,” maternity ward nurse Martha Gavin said from the corner of the room.
“Yes, he is,” Manko said.
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