Marcus Larson/News-Register##Molly Phipps holds Skylar Meierotto while father Bryan Meierotto looks on. Skylar was the first baby of the new year born at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
Marcus Larson/News-Register##Molly Phipps holds Skylar Meierotto while father Bryan Meierotto looks on. Skylar was the first baby of the new year born at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
By Paul Daquilante • Staff Writer • 

First baby of 2016 arrives a little early

Parents Molly Phipps and Bryan Meierotto of McMinnville weren’t expecting their newborn for another two weeks.

However, she arrived at 7:55 a.m. New Year’s Day, becoming the first baby of 2016 born at the Willamette Valley Medical Center.

There wasn’t much competition for the honor this year.

The hospital delivered a child about 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve. Skylar arrived about 12 hours later, weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and measuring 19 1/2 inches.

Meierotto said he and Phipps had not given any thought to their daughter being a New Year’s baby.

“It just happened that way,” he said. “We weren’t planning it.”

Mom and dad checked into the hospital about 12:30 p.m. Thursday. The next day, Skylar was sleeping soundly in mom’s arms, as dad rested in a chair in their room.

They were excited about the birth.

Meierotto said it would “really hit us” when he and Phipps got her home. They were expecting to leave the hospital Sunday.

Skylar has a brother, 8-year-old Zackary. Meierotto said he had already been to the hospital to greet his baby sister.

Sitting on a chair in their room was a gift basket provided by the hospital. Items included stuffed animals, a hat and a blanket.

At Phipps’ side during the delivery stood obstetrician Dr. Kay Case, pediatrician Dr. Theodore Nyquist and nurse Charity Steele.

A McMinnville couple, Ashley Hoff and Josh Robinson, are the proud parents of the first baby of 2016 born at Providence Newberg Medical Center.

Thomas Ryan Robinson weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Baby Thomas and his parents also took a gift basket home to share.

First babies of a new year can make for good stories, and in San Diego, California, a girl was born at 11:59 New Years’s Eve and a boy at 12:02 New Years Day to a couple.

“We were actually watching the clock, so it means, like, two birthday parties back-to-back,” their mother said.

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