For some, New Year’s Eve plans are etched in stone well before the date. But sometimes things don’t go as planned, as it did for one Chicago-area couple.
A 6-pound, 6-ounce party crasher interrupted the Garcia family’s New Year’s Eve church service.
Elise Grace Garcia was born at 12:39 a.m. Monday. She spent her holiday swaddled with her parents, Jaime and Monsserrat Garcia.
Elise didn’t get a 2024 celebratory crown like her parents, but she was the star of the day.
The Garcias’ baby girl was always meant to be a holiday baby — she was originally due on Christmas Eve.
But Elise didn’t come. The expecting parents decided to go ahead and make New Year’s Eve plans.
They bought food for a holiday dinner and planned their evening.
On Sunday morning, the couple decided to go to church at 11 a.m.
During Mass, contractions began, and Jaime and Monsserrat Garcia headed to Rush University Medical Center.
All went well, and Elise was born at 12:39 a.m.
She’s the first baby for the couple.
“This is truly an amazing blessing,” Jaime Garcia said. “A new life on the new year.”
Baby Elise wasn’t the only welcome addition to families’ holiday festivities.
Emily and Wes Ortman, a Wheeling couple, thought they had about a month before their little one arrived. He was scheduled to come Jan. 29.
But after Emily experienced high blood pressure, the couple went to the hospital Saturday.
They planned to go to a parent’s home to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but instead they spent the day at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
“After they checked everything, they just basically told us that we were going to have a baby this weekend,” Wes Ortman said. “I was nervous because I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, I thought we’d have more time.”
But hours into 2024, Emily went into labor, and less than 20 minutes later the couple had a baby boy.
Ocean Ortman was born at 3:18 a.m. on New Year’s Day, weighing 5 pounds, 2.4 ounces.
He posed next to a beanie with, “in my newborn era” stitched across the front.
The unique name comes from a YouTube couple that Emily and Wes Ortman like watching. Alexa and Carlos PenaVega have a child named Ocean, and the Ortmans decided they both liked the name too.
So far, 2024 has started on a great note for the couple and their first child.
“We’re starting the year off with our new family,” Wes Ortman said. “We’re going to experience all the new things with our little one and just kind of see where the adventure takes us.”
But plans for the rest of their holiday are already booked.
“We’re going to get some sleep and spend time with our new one,” the new father added.
Advocate Health Care saw several other New Year’s Day babies. Kiara and Robert Rhodes, a Crete couple, had baby Rue at 5:05 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Rue has two older brothers, Robert and Kityi.
Tessa and Christian Smith welcomed baby Cole at 10:12 a.m. at Advocate Sherman Hospital. The couple lives in Pingree Grove, and Cole is their first child.
Mariah Rush is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.
