3 families welcome new babies to ring in 2024
WEXFORD, Pa. (KDKA) - As the Future of Pittsburgh Ball rose Sunday night to welcome in the new year, doctors, staff, and parents-to-be were getting down to business in the delivery rooms of two Pittsburgh area hospitals.
First, at UPMC Magee Women's Hospital, two babies were born, both at 12:45 a.m.
Juan Lopez Brito and Glendy Gonzalez got to say hello to their new son Eduardo, and then just down the hall, John Mrockosy and Emily Helbling from Zelienople welcomed their second child, daughter Madison, into the world.
"We just woke up New Year's Eve, thought we should probably get to the hospital," said Helbling. "They were going to send us home, but they ended up keeping us because I really didn't want to have to drive back in on New Year's Eve real late. We watched the ball drop, and then 30 to 40 minutes later, she was here."
Then, some 20 miles north of Magee and only about one minute later, Billy and Sami Polizotto of Beaver, Pa., welcomed their fourth child, a healthy baby girl named Capria at 7 pounds, 1 ounce.
"We got here about 3:30, 3:45 p.m., and they were ready for us," said Sami. "We thought we wouldn't make it because it's a 45-minute trip. But we got here, and I was in active labor until about midnight, and then around midnight, I started to dilate a little more, and then she came at 12:46 a.m."
The Polizottos will receive one year of free diapers thanks to the Western Pa. Diaper Bank and AHN caregivers gave them a large birthday gift basket for being the first baby born in the new year at one of their hospitals.
Baby Capria will receive the gift of free swim lessons from Pittsburgh's Goldfish Swim Schools whenever she is ready to hit the pool. But for right now, it appears that Capria is just interested in sleeping, eating, and doing other things.
"She definitely knows how to keep her diaper dirty," joked Sami.
Doctors at both hospitals say that all three New Year's babies are doing well and should be going home sometime very soon.