New Year enjoys first births

Shayann Jim, 6, holds her new baby sister, Chenoah, who was born on New Year's day at Rehoboth McKinley Chrisitian Hospital in Gallup. Chenoah is one of three infants born on New Year's day in Gallup. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

GALLUP — Kimberlita Jackson's Dec. 28 due date came and passed without a baby.

But on Saturday, following hours of labor, Jackson gave birth to her second daughter Chenoah Elisha Jim at 7:20 a.m. The 7 lbs. 13 ounce girl was one of the first babies born in 2005 at Rehoboth McKinley County Hospital.

Had she been delivered on time, she would not have been distinguished as the first of three babies born on New Year's Day in the Gallup area.

"She's a New Year's baby," Jackson said. "She just didn't want to come any earlier,"

Dressed in lacy pink attire, Elisha Jim posed for her first photo shoot with older sister, 6-year-old Shayann Jim.

The Twin Buttes mother and father Eddie Jim, Jr. expected their daughter's birth on Dec. 28, but the date was pushed back to New Year's Eve because Jackson was not ready to deliver.

"I arrived at the hospital at 1 p.m. and she wasn't born until about 7 on New Year's," Jackson said.

A RMCH official said two babies were born at the hospital on New Year's Day.


Tuba City's first
TUBA CITY — Baby Dalailah Mae came into the world at 2:33 a.m. on New Year's Day at the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation.

She weighed 7 pounds, 6.2 ounces and is the daughter of Raven Sloan and Donovan Fulton.

"It's always wonderful to help welcome a new baby into the world," said Jim Hopkins, the hospital's acting chief executive officer. "We're pleased that our hospital offers a patient-centered program for women and infants health care. Our dedicated team of doctors, nurses and midwives pays special attention to the needs of parents and their babies and encourage the support of families before, during, and after the birth of the baby."