Oh, baby! Local hospitals welcome in first births of 2024

Kim Dunlap, Kokomo Tribune, Ind.
·3 min read

Jan. 4—Mayday Madeliene Marie Rappuhn and Saylor Wren Church don't know it yet, but they both will have quite a story to tell their friends someday.

Because while the rest of us were celebrating the new year, the two girls and their families were celebrating the gift of life as the first babies born at Community Howard Regional Health and Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo.

Rappuhn was born at 11:16 a.m. on New Year's Day at Community Howard Regional Health and is the first child for Abigail St. Clair and Dereck Rappuhn, according to hospital officials.

Officials added that the little girl, born at 21 inches long and weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, is named after the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Parker in one of St. Clair's favorite comics.

Jill Carey, part of the team that helped deliver Rappuhn, called the little girl's birth a "new beginning," as it is for every baby, she explained.

"I get to be a part of these moms' and dads' lives, so it's a blessing for me," she told the Tribune. "For me, every delivery is a new blessing, a new year, but this (the first baby of the year) is kind of exciting because the world's celebrating it too."

Carey, who's been a nurse for over 30 years, added that having the first baby of the year is kind of like playing and then winning the lottery.

"I think it's exciting," she said. "You're kind of surprised. You're having a baby, and then it turns out to be the first one (of the year). So you bought a lottery ticket, and then you won. It's just always exciting."

And it was an equal amount of excitement on Tuesday over at Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo, where Church made her debut at 5:48 a.m.

The little girl came into the world at 20 inches long and weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, hospital officials note.

She is the first child for Peru residents Haley Payne and Gage Church.

"I am literally overjoyed," Payne told the Tribune on Wednesday afternoon via telephone. "It's such an indescribable feeling. I don't think anyone can really put words on how you actually feel about it. It's crazy honestly."

Payne added that her due date was actually Jan. 9 but that she was set to be induced Jan. 2.

And then her daughter had other plans, she laughed.

"I woke up Monday morning, and literally when I woke up, my water was broken," she said. "And it was like, 'OK, she's ready.'"

But Payne said it still never really crossed her mind that she would deliver Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo's first baby of the year.

"We had no idea," she said. "We were thinking that there were other babies here because they said it was busy, so we thought there had already been babies born. We had no idea that she'd be the first. I already felt like she was going to make statements (in her life), but as a newborn? I mean it was like, 'Look at you. You're already doing it, girl.'"

And like every new parent, Payne said she already has a head full of wishes and dreams for her little girl.

But the biggest one is just happiness.

"I just really hope she understands she made a mark for the 2024 year for sure," she said. "But I just wish she understands how much we love her, and I hope and wish that everything she wants in life comes true. I hope we raise her to be a really good person and do our best in working that into her mind. It's crazy times out there, and that's really what I want for her. Go out there, work for what she wants and do the right things."