First 2006 baby born

Published 10:07 pm Sunday, January 1, 2006

Little Manuel Ochoa Jr. slept quietly in his mother’s arms Sunday afternoon, unaware that his birth just 12 hours earlier made him Whitfield County’s most famous baby of 2006.

Ochoa, son of Manuel Ochoa and Liliana Ramirez, was the first baby of the new year, born at 2:12 a.m. at Hamilton Medical Center. He weighs eight pounds and 12 ounces and is 21 inches long.

Manuel came early, said his mother through an interpreter Sunday afternoon.

“I wasn’t due until Tuesday,” Ramirez said.

Her labor began at five on Saturday afternoon, Ramirez said.

“She was more surprised than I was,” Ochoa said about his son’s early arrival.

Manuel has an older sister, Paula, who is 4, Ramirez said.

Manuel did not have much competition in the race to be the first baby of the new year, according to Hamilton Medical Center officials.

A baby girl was born just two hours after Manuel, but her mom did not come to the hospital until an hour before her birth, officials said.

The first baby of 2005 did not arrive until almost 7 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

As the first baby of the year, Manuel will receive free pictures from the hospital, a flat of baby formula and will be featured as a Precious Addition.

His parents will receive a free steak dinner from the hospital’s dining service.