'Fresh start': New Year's babies give parents a reason to hope, dream
Nicole Howard went to bed early New Year's Eve and still ended up sleep deprived.
Three weeks from her due date, the mom-to-be woke up around midnight with what felt like muscle soreness in her back.
So she did what any selfless wife does when you're having contractions and your husband is in his third year of medical school: She let him enjoy some much-needed rest.
Howard didn't rouse her blissfully unaware husband until it was time to make a beeline for the hospital around 6 a.m.
"I appreciated the consideration there, but I also probably would have just rather been woken up because it was a pretty big shock," James Howard said.
The Woodridge couple welcomed their first child, a boy with tufts of strawberry-blond hair, at 9:13 a.m. Saturday at Edward Hospital in Naperville, making him one of the first babies of 2022.
Bodie Sebastian Howard was napping peacefully Saturday afternoon. You could say he takes after his father.
"He's been quiet," Nicole Howard said. "I'm surprised. He rolled around a lot in the womb."
The omicron surge and COVID-19 visitor restrictions made the usual hoopla in delivery rooms more muted. Parents felt the absence of relatives who would meet the newest members of their families through photos or video.
Proud parents Shurel Jordan and Tewayne Kennedy introduced their first daughter, Trinidy, born at 4:36 a.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, to the baby girl's grandparents and her brother, Masiah, 3, over FaceTime.
"A few family members have already seen a picture of her, and they called me through video," said Jordan, who hopes to bring her 5-pound, 10.5-ounce bundle of cuteness home to Des Plaines Sunday. "It might stay that way until she's a little bit older. She's still brand new. So to keep her safe and everybody else safe, that's probably what I'll be doing anyway."
But nothing, not even a pandemic, could take away the indescribable joy of a new life arriving in a new year.
"She's a blessing, and she's good luck," said Jordan, who had a high-risk pregnancy. "I feel like she's good luck because she came on New Year's Day, and it's just like to me it's a fresh start, for her, for me and the rest of the family."
In Elgin, Semani Lowe and Darius Wilson celebrated the new year with Savion Rhaum-Xavier Wilson, born 7 pounds, at 6:43 a.m. at Advocate Sherman Hospital.
Callum Brock Parvis came into the world at 1:04 a.m., born 6 pounds, 3 ounces, at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove to mom and dad Kristin and Heath Parvis of Palos Park.
At 12:34 a.m., Alanie Rose Arias was born to Josselyn Galeana and Christian Arias of Elgin at AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Women's and Children's Hospital Hoffman Estates. Their baby girl weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces.
Whitney Diane Beary was the first baby born in 2022 at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva. She made her entrance at 1:46 a.m. New Year's Day. The baby girl, 8 pounds, 14 ounces, is the third child for Sugar Grove parents Cassandra and Chris Beary. She has a big sister, Willa, 4, a big brother, Teddy, 2, and a "furry sibling" Daisy, the family dachshund.
Alongside his wife, recovering at Edward Hospital, James Howard was adjusting to the "surreal" feeling of being a new dad. But in a strange and uncertain time, he let himself hope and dream for his son's future.
"Just to be happy and healthy," he said.