Published: January 01, 2009 11:40 pm      

Dalton's first baby arrives early

Cindy Martin and her husband Dustin had planned to spend New Year’s Eve with her family in Calhoun.

But nature had different plans for the expecting mother.

“I started contractions on the way. We just had time to get there, and say ‘hi’ to everybody and left,” she said.

The Murray County couple went to Dalton’s Hamilton Medical Center where, about 11 hours later, at 5:51 a.m. Thursday, she gave birth to her first son, Levi.

Weighing 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces, he was the first baby born in 2009 in the hospital.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said, adding she thought by 6 a.m. someone else would have given birth.

The hospital provides the mother of the first baby born in the new year with a gift basket and a special room and other gifts.

“It’s wonderful,” she said.

But she said the best gift is her son.

“He such a little blessing,” she said.

Martin may have missed that dinner with her family, but she still got to spend the holiday with them. Thursday afternoon, her room was filled with friends and relatives getting their first look at the newborn baby.

“They are all here,” she said.