OREM — After a full day in labor on Dec. 31, Valene Middleton was ready to welcome her new baby boy, but she worried the staff at Orem Community Hospital might think she was trying to time the birth.
Turns out she didn't have any control over that. Her 7-pound 7-ounce son came on his own timetable at 12:02 a.m. Friday, making him Utah's first baby of the new year by a nose. Runners-up included a baby born at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center at 12:03 a.m., one at Intermountain Medical Center at 12:05 a.m. and another at University Hospital at 12:06 a.m.
"Only in passing had we ever talked about having the first baby of the new year," Middleton said from her hospital room on Friday. "Who really ever has the first baby? We had no idea that it could be us.
"Even when we were coming into the hospital I wondered if they would be thinking I was trying to get here so he could be the first baby." John Middleton drove his wife to the hospital from their home in Springville, arriving about 10:20 p.m. when his wife's contractions were only about two minutes apart, she said.
Her concerns about being taken seriously evaporated once they arrived. "No one thought I was kidding — it must have been pretty obvious" to the staff, she said, that little "Newton" — the baby's nickname until his parents decide on a legal name — was going to come close in the contest to be the first Utah baby born on 01/01/10.
Valene Middleton's labor was helped along by a staff of "really good nurses" who helped coach her in breathing techniques while she waited for an anesthetic, she said. "Someone had just gone in for a C-section when I got here, so the anesthesiologist was otherwise occupied. I didn't get anything (for the pain) until shortly before he was born."
"Newton" will have John as his middle name, after his father and grandfather, she said, noting the nickname refers to the picture of his first ultrasound, at about 11 weeks gestation. "The doctor and my husband decided he kind of looked like a newt. That's what the nickname was if he was a boy. If it was a girl, it would have been 'Newtella,' " she said.
She said her husband will likely celebrate by handing out Fig Newtons when he returns to work at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Motion Picture Studio in Provo.
Though he is manager of the studio's visual effects team, her husband "hasn't brought in the video camera. We didn't need the whole thing on video. But he has brought in the camera. We've definitely got pictures" to send to family members, she said.
Both husband and wife were born and raised in Mesa, Ariz., "but it took coming to Utah for us to meet," Valene Middleton said. They were both employed by the LDS Church until she left her position to teach business communication part-time at Brigham Young University last fall.
During Valene Middleton's interview with the Deseret News, John Middleton was at home, checking on the couple's other child, 20-month-old AJ, and "catching a nap. He's going to need it, because I'm going to need help," she said.
So far, the baby's health and disposition has "been very good. The nursing staff called him a little angel already, and he's done well sleeping. I'm very grateful for it right now and am hoping it lasts."
By early afternoon on New Year's Day, the Middletons had received recognition from Utah County as having the first baby, with flowers and a new baby outfit, though no word had yet come on recognition as being the state's first new child.
The honor "will make a great story for him on his birthday, especially since it's 01/01/10," she said. "We're still working on his name. We want to make sure it's one he can live up to — an example kind of name."
e-mail: carrie@desnews.com