Passavant Area Hospital had to wait until Wednesday afternoon to welcome the first newborn baby of 2020.
Patrick Armold was born January 1st at 3:21 pm weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces and is 19 inches long.
Patrick is the son of Taylor and Jake Armold of Greenfield and has an older sister named Isabelle who is three years old.
Patrick’s mother Taylor says that although it was a bit of a surprise, little Patrick is doing very well.
“He came a little early, he came at 36 weeks but he is fine.”
When asked about how she felt about Patrick being the first baby of 2020, Taylor said it was a surprise to say the least.
“ I didn’t plan this, I’m definitely shocked. We kinda hoped someone would beat us to the punch (laughter), but he will do great things regardless of when he was born. So hopefully he is just healthy and grows up and can handle his big sister roughing him around.”
Taylor says that his big sister Isabelle came in and gave her little brother a big kiss as soon as she saw him, and she also was confused as to why he couldn’t come home with her right then and there.
Taylor says the overall experience has been great, but that they are ready to home soon.
“We have had great care here, I worked here for years and have just been gone for a little while. The staff has been awesome and we have had an awesome experience.”
Taylor says that any special plans they have when they get home are pretty simple. “Just to adjust (laughs) we are definitely not used to being cooped up in one room so we are going to get home and spread out a little bit.”
Passavant provided the Armold family with a package of special gifts to celebrate Patrick being the first Passavant newborn of 2020.
Communications Coordinator for Passavant Kevin Eckhoff says that in 2019 the Family Maternity suites welcomed 383 newborns, seven more than in 2018. And the number of newborn boys edged out the number newborn girls 194 to 189.
Eckoff says the most popular baby names at Passavant in 2019 were Lincoln for boys and Arianna for girls.
Nationally, Sophia, Olivia and Emma topped lists as the most popular girl names for 2019, while the top boy names were Liam, Jackson and Noah.