By Madina Toure
New York Hospital Queens welcomed its first baby of the year nearly two hours after the new year began.
Parents Ting Gao and Zheng Wang produced a baby girl, Elena Wang, at 1:35 a.m. on New Year’s Day. The girl weighs 5 pounds and 14 ounces. The hospital gave the family a $250 gift card and a congratulatory basket of flowers.
“I was expecting a Christmas baby, but was surprised to have a New Year baby,” Gao, the baby’s mother, said in a statement released by the hospital.
Last year, the first baby of the year at NYHQ was a baby boy, who was born at 1:07 a.m.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtoure@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.