UTMB welcomes county’s first baby of 2012

GALVESTON — Juan Carlos Hernandez nearly fainted as he waited for his son to be born Sunday morning at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

“I was kind of light headed,” Hernandez said.

But, he said, he steadied himself, and at 4:21 a.m. his son, Carlos Daniel Hernandez, was born, making him the first baby of the new year in Galveston County.

Carlos Daniel Hernandez came a little early his mother, Nicole Rendon, said. The original due date was Jan. 6, Rendon said, but she arrived at the hospital Friday and finally had the couple’s first child Sunday morning.

“That was an experience,” Rendon said.

Rendon and Hernandez live in Alvin but were both born on the island and wanted their son to be born in Galveston as well, they said.

The baby boy is also the first grandson for their parents, the couple said. Rendon said her dad always wanted a son, but he had two daughters. Now he has a grandson, she said.

Hernandez said they were excited to have their son but weren’t planning on having a second child just yet.

“We are going to let him grow,” Hernandez said.

And with his birth date falling on the first day of the new year, every birthday will be a celebration, Rendon said.

“They’re going to have a countdown to his first birth day,” she said.