Just 91⁄2 hours into 2012, Kayla Perkins and Tyson Dewalt celebrated the birth of their second child, a girl, and the first baby born in the new year in Bowling Green.
Kay'lyn Dewalt was born by cesarean section at The Medical Center at 9:32 a.m. Sunday. She weighed 6 pounds and 11⁄2 ounces.
The infant came into the world with a head full of curly black hair and was swaddled in her mother's arms Sunday night while her proud father looked on. Perkins, who was on a morphine drip, sat up cradling her daughter looking fresh-faced, displaying not a hint of having gone through major surgery earlier in the day.
"It makes me feel special," Perkins said about giving birth to the first baby of the new year.
As the first baby of 2012, The Medical Center presented little Kay'lyn with several new items, ranging from a tiny New Year's baby hat to a baby tub filled with gifts such as bottles and teethers.
Perkins, of Bowling Green, went into labor late Saturday. She knew she would have to deliver the infant by C-section, but Perkins wasn't expecting her baby girl for another nine days. As her contractions began to come closer together Saturday night, she headed to the hospital at about 10:30 p.m.
Kay'lyn's older brother, Tyson, 5, is looking forward to welcoming his new baby sister home, Perkins said.
"He was excited," Perkins said about Tyson. "He called this morning to wish me a happy new year and said, ‘Mommy, is the baby coming out?' "
Dewalt plans to do as much as he can at home while Perkins recovers.
"It's a beautiful thing," Dewalt said about the birth of the couple's second child. "It's a blessing.
"It's a good way to open up the new year," he said.
Kay'lyn was the first of four babies born New Year's Day at The Medical Center.
