Babies greet 2009 in the Twin Cities

LEWISTON – Olivia Matthew, 4, crept up quietly on her mom, Amy, and newborn brother, Owen, Thursday while big sister Alexis, 8, went around the other side of the bed.

It was their first glimpse of their new brother – the first baby born in Lewiston this year – and they were as much in awe of Owen as they were the other people in the room and all of the hospital equipment.

“You can come on up and sit with me, if you want,” Amy, 29, said as she tried to coax the toddler closer. “Owen’s here. He’s finally here.”

Owen actually arrived a bit early, nine days before his predicted Jan. 10 date. That’s the same day sister Alexis was due in 2000, Amy said. But Alexis was actually born a 10 days late, on Jan. 20.

“So there was a chance that he was going to be born on her birthday,” Amy said. “She didn’t like that. She’s much happier he came when he did.”

Owen was born at 6:37 a.m. at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, weighing six pounds and 11 ounces. Amy and father Jeremy Abram arrived at the hospital just after 3 a.m. New Year’s Day.

Owen’s delivery might have been quick, Amy said, but it wasn’t easy.

“It was by far the most difficult pregnancy and delivery I’ve had,” she said. He was delivered by cesarean section when his heart rate began dropping.

Owen wasn’t the first baby born in Maine this year. That honor goes to Collin Duplissis of Westbrook, delivered at 12:36 a.m. in Portland’s Maine Medical Center.

But he was the first delivered at Saint Mary’s and the first in Lewiston. Owen was born a mere 17 minutes before Natalie Bichrest, the first baby born at Central Maine Medical Center in 2009. Natalie is the first child to parents Heather Roy and Derek Bichrest of Lisbon Falls. Both are 21 years old.

“I was in labor for 20 something hours – just a long time,” Roy said. Natalie was actually about three days past due, and Roy said she was ready.

She won’t be the couple’s last baby.

“I’ll do it again,” she said. “She’s totally worth it.”

Little tax break

Back at St. Mary’s and around the corner from Amy and Owen, Riley Pulkkinen’s new family and friends pondered the benefits of being born early. Riley was the last baby born in 2008 in Lewiston. She was born at 10:55 a.m. Wednesday, New Year’s Eve.

But her parents did get a gift certificate from H&R Block for help preparing their 2008 taxes. They can claim her as a tax deduction this year, while the other parents will have to wait until 2010.

“And that’s worth a lot,” said grandmother Julie Bowen. “They can open their own college account now and start building interest. Plus, we got to have her a day earlier.”

Father Cody Pulkkinen, 21, was discharged from the Army in March and works at LePage Bakeries.

Mother Ashley Pulkkinen, 21, began labor sometime Tuesday, but is happy her baby came when she did.

“For a while there, I thought she was going to end up being first,” Ashley said. “It took so long. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it.”

What’s more, Ashley said she didn’t use a single swearword during the birth. She relied on substitutes, like “fudge” and “chicken pot pie.”

“I said ‘mother-of-pearl,’ a few times, and the nurses thought that was funny,” she said. “And I was singing all the time, and I don’t know why.”