Local hospitals welcome first births of the new year
Jan. 5—They might not know it yet, but Opal Faye-Eileen Bugher and Jamie Hancock III will have quite a story to tell one day.
After all, it's not every day that you're a hospital's first baby born in the new year.
But for Bugher, born at 8:44 a.m. Jan. 1 at Community Howard Regional Health, and Hancock III, born at 4:28 p.m. Jan. 2 at Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo, that's exactly what happened.
Bugher is the first child for Peru residents Bliss Long and Izaiah Bugher, who told the Tribune they weren't expecting to have a New Year's Day baby when Long went to a follow-up doctor's appointment late last week.
"It was two days before we had the baby," Izaiah said, "and they said at the appointment that she was only dilated to barely two (centimeters). So we had no intentions of having a baby that soon. But then we came home and started relaxing and were downstairs watching a movie when she (Long) started complaining about belly aches. I asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital, and she said she did."
A few hours later, young Opal — named in part after a grandmother and a family friend — made her way into the world.
"Everything started happening around 10 or 11 (p.m.), and they were like, 'You might be the first one to have the first baby of 2023,'" Long said. "And it was just amazing. I didn't think our daughter would be the first baby born this year, so it's cool honestly. I can't wait to tell her about it when she gets older. ... She'll have that (distinction) all for her."
Long added that her daughter timed the birth perfectly too, as Jan. 1 is also the couple's anniversary.
"It's special," Long said. "I never knew I could love something so much. It's a great experience, and I'd never trade it for anything in the world."
Kokomo residents Somerset Hancock and her husband Jamie shared similar sentiments when asked by the Tribune about their newborn son.
"We were scheduled to be induced the night of Jan. 6 so that he could come out on that day," Somerset said. "But the funny story is that the second (of January) is my dad's birthday. ... And it literally just hit midnight on Jan. 2, and my water broke. ... It took 16 1/2 hours of labor, but he was my dad's birthday gift."
Like Long and Bugher with Community Howard Regional Health, the Hancocks did not know their baby would be Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo's first baby of 2023 until awhile after the boy's birth.
"It's neat," Somerset said. "Honestly, I think he'll like to hear about it all one day. ... I think once I tell him, it'll be something he'll be able to hold onto and share with his own kids one day.
"And really overall, I just want him to be a happy and healthy baby," Somerset added. "I just couldn't wish for anything more. We lost our first one, so he is our 'rainbow baby.' He is just a great gift, and I'm so very thankful we have him."
