By Ivan Pereira and Jeremy Walsh
The first, Kamiyah Alina Barrow, was born to Laurelton residents Kamille Lord and Dexter Barrow at New York Hospital Queens in Flushing. Kamiyah was 21 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces when she was born right after the stroke of midnight Jan. 1.Lord was surprised by the punctuality of her first child.”Around 10:50, when I started to push, we had the TV on, and at that time I wasn't paying attention to the TV, I was paying attention to the doctor,” she said, noting the Times Square celebrations were beginning as Kamiyah was born.The second infant of 2008 was born at 12:01 a.m. at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Isabella Sophia Sears, born to Bayside residents Yvonne Daza and Stuart Sears, was 20.6 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces.She is the granddaughter of City Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights), who was present at the hospital through the birth, her office said.Helen Sears' staff said the family had no inkling that Isabella would be born at the turn of the new year.Daza, 37, came to the hospital for a routine checkup that afternoon, but doctors decided it was time to induce labor, Stuart Sears said.”We thought that (the birth) would probably be around the 5th or the 6th,” he said. “There was really no sense that it would be that day.”Elmhurst Hospital has been the birthplace of the first baby of the new year at least three times in recent years, said hospital spokeswoman Georgia Viras.Stuart Sears said excitement among staff members grew as word spread that his wife was in labor. “People started coming into the room to check,” he said. “I felt a little bad for her. She's got her legs up in the air and she's screaming and … it was a little bit bizarre.”But he also praised the hospital's staff and said it was fun to share the moment with them.Lord and Barrow hope to be able to share the moment with their little daughter when she gets older. Lord, who is originally from the island of Jamaica, said the birth was all the more memorable because her daughter was the first in the family to be born in the United States.”She's going to see pictures and we're going to have recordings,” she said. “She's going to love it.”Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
