TOLEDO, Ohio — Traditionally, many of us welcome the new year with celebrations we hope will keep us out of trouble or potentially the hospital, but a lucky few got to celebrate the new year in the hospital with a newborn.
And while many took the streets to witness the 11,875-pound crystal ball drop-in Times Square, over in Toledo, Hannah Prottengeier welcomed 2023 watching someone much smaller inside Mercy Health's St. Vincent Medical Center.
At 9:23 a.m. Sunday morning, Prottengeier welcomed a baby girl, Willow, at 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Willow's not only her first baby, but she is Mercy's first baby recorded of the year.
Prottengeier said her brand new daughter makes her excited to start the new year and next chapter.
"I was ready to get her out and healthy," she said. "I actually was working, and I had to leave work early and I was sent over thinking it was a false alarm and they told me my water broke and she was coming."
Prottengeier also said she had been experiencing early pregnancy symptoms starting 35 weeks in, and Willow was two weeks earlier than planned.
The new year has already started out more hectic than she could have imagined, but it is all worth it in the end because she said her baby is safe, healthy, and perfect.
"I was anxious a lot, I will say that, but once I held her everything just calmed out," she said.
Prottengeier will stay a few days in the hospital with Willow and said she is excited to take her baby girl home soon and is proud to now share being a parent with others who welcomed the year with their own newborns.
"They got a good gift, I mean we all got perfect gifts this year to start off the new year," she said.
Promedica Toledo also celebrated the new year with their first baby too at 1:01 a.m. Sunday morning. Mother Ravindika Dissanayeke and father Manoj Rajakaruna welcomed their 8-pound baby girl, Kiana Rajakaruna.