Erin Cavanna was the second baby born in the region on New Year’s
Day. She is the third child for Keisha and Nate Vacanna. Erin
was
welcomed into the world at Putnam Hospital Center at 11:58 a.m.
MID-HUDSON – Kaima Amaha-Okorafor entered the world at 4:58 a.m.
on New Year’s Day, making the 8 pound baby girl the first baby born
in the Mid-Hudson Valley.
Kaima, born at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie to mom,
Adanma Amaha-Okorafor, and dad, Dr. Amaha Okorafor, was due on January
9, but mom’s contractions began on New Year’s Eve, more than
a week before their first child’s January 9 due date.
The couple was on their way to a Japanese restaurant in Poughkeepsie when
they made a detour to the hospital’s maternity department and discovered
their baby girl was on her way.
“This is the best New Year’s gift you can get,” said
her father. Her mother, an attorney, said, “I feel like I want to
have all my babies on the first of January.”
Several miles to the south, in Carmel, a Mahopac family greeted the new
year with the birth of their daughter, at Putnam Hospital Center.
The Cavannas’ welcomed Erin into the world at 11:58 a.m. She weighed
6 pounds and was 19 inches long. She joins an older brother and sister.
“My first blessing of 2016; the first of many,” said Grandmother
Anita Grant.
Erin arrived one week before her mom’s due date. “I was hoping
for a tax write-off or a New Year’s baby,” said mom Keisha
Cavanna.
Dad Nate Cavanna, said, “There’s no way I’d rather start
the New Year.”