Nolan Orion Samph, 7 pounds, 13 ounces, is Pierce County’s first baby of 2021
Alyssa Samph was making snickerdoodles when she realized it was time to go to the hospital.
At 2:40 a.m. New Year’s Day, she and Steven Samph welcomed Pierce County’s first baby of 2021 into the world at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Nolan Orion Samph, 7 pounds, 13 ounces, was doing well Friday afternoon.
“He is perfect,” Alyssa Samph said. “… We’re definitely blessed.”
Steven Samph said he was helping a friend move belongings into a storage unit when she texted him that the contractions were getting closer.
When he got home, she was already putting on her shoes and had finished the last batch of cookies.
“It was like perfect timing,” he said.
He’s stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord as a cavalry scout with the 8-1 CAV, and they live on base, which meant Madigan was only minutes away.
They headed to the hospital, while his parents took care of the Samph’s son, Oliver, who is almost two, and took over the turkey and mashed potatoes for News Year’s Eve dinner.
The family hoped to bring Nolan home Saturday to meet his big brother.
Oliver was also born on a holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Steven Samph was born on the Fourth of July.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “I never thought I was going to have a New Year’s baby.”
They learned Nolan was the hospital’s first baby of the year when they were surprised by the staff with a gift basket of baby supplies. A few hours later, they learned he was the first baby of 2021 in the county.
“We’re definitely excited that he came a few days early,” Alyssa Samph said. “We were ready to meet him.”
CHI Franciscan said their first Pierce County baby of the year was born at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma at 8:45 a.m. They also had a baby born at 1:45 a.m. at their Enumclaw facility, St. Elizabeth Hospital, which is in King County.
Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup had Pierce County’s second baby of the year. Kelsey Ludwick and Joe Hohn of Roy welcomed Benjamin Hohn at 5:24 a.m.
Their due date was Dec. 18, and they came to the hospital Tuesday for an induction.
Benjamin ended up being delivered by cesarean section weighing 9 pounds, 10 ounces.
“He’s doing great, Ludwick said late Friday morning. “He’s sleeping right now.”
It was about 4 p.m. New Year’s Eve that they realized they might have a New Year’s baby.
“I didn’t think we’d make it to the first,” Hohn said.
Like the Samph’s, they realized they had the hospital’s first baby of 2021 when they were given a basket with stuffed animals, a blanket and other gifts.
Perhaps there’s something extra hopeful about a New Year’s baby in 2021.
“Hopefully a New Year, a new start,” Hohn said.
