Wyeth Kessler of Hancock held on a week past his due-date to be the first baby born at Monadnock Community Hospital in 2019.
“He was due on Dec. 22, but he just didn’t want to be a 2018 baby,” Wyeth’s father, Chris Kessler, 32, said, in Monadnock Community Hospital’s birthing suites Wednesday morning.
“He pushed it,” Tara Kessler, 34, said.
Wyeth Kessler was born at 3:25 p.m. on New Year’s Day. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, and is 21 inches long.
His mother, Tara Kessler, works as a city planner for the city of Keene, and his father, Chris Kessler, is a landscape architect at Pellettieri Associates in Warner. Chris is originally from New London, and Tara is originally from Rhode Island, but has lived in New Hampshire for the past 11 years.
The couple only recently moved to Hancock from Henniker, and have spend the last few months of Tara’s pregnancy preparing their new house for Wyeth’s arrival.
“We made it just in the nick of time for his due date,” Tara said. “We needed that extra week he gave us.”
Tara said she entered the early stages of labor on Saturday, and was admitted to the hospital on Monday, and anticipated her child being born on a holiday.
“So, no New Year’s for us,” she said. “But this is a good way to start the year.”
Tara and Chris have spent their first day with their child just getting to know him.
“You don’t really know what he’s going to be like until he’s here,” Tara said. “So we’re just meeting him for the first time.”
“He’s been very mild-mannered and calm,” Chris said. “At least for the first day.”
“Yes, thank you for the break,” Tara said to their newborn, held in Chris’s arms.
The couple said their experience at Monadnock Community Hospital has only strengthened their impression of their new community. They were impressed both by the hospital staff, and the touches such as Wyeth getting “Welcome to the World” baskets with contributions from local businesses.
“That’s part of why we moved to this community,” Chris said.
Wyeth is their first child, and Tara said the hospital nurses have been making sure she leaves ready to take on her first parenting experience.
“Needless to say, this is the resolution this year,” Chris said.
“Figure out how to be a parent,” Tara finished.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.