Honolulu's first baby of 2009 might have been early but she seemed in no rush to make her entrance.

First Baby Born In 2009

 

A Makakilo couple are the proud parents of the first baby born on Oahu in the New Year.

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Six-pound, 3-ounce Eleanor Kathryn “;Ella Kate”; McKinney was born at 12:22 a.m. yesterday in Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, which also made her the hospital's first centennial anniversary baby.

Her parents are Naval Petty Officer Andrew McKinney and Rachel Campbell, both of Dallas, but now living in Makakilo. They were expecting her to arrive Jan. 6, but Ella Kate decided to come early. ... and then took her time at it.

Campbell said the labor was “;excruciating, but it's worth it.”; The couple arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m. Wednesday and decided to induce labor at 9 a.m. New Year's Eve. “;I was making slow progress. My blood pressure was dropping and her heart rate was dropping,”; Campbell explained.

“;Suddenly at 11:30 p.m. my water broke and she just came out so fast. I guess she was just waiting for the right time to come out!

“;Everyone here (at the hospital) was pulling for her to be the first one,”; Campbell added. “;It's really exciting!”;

McKinney, who is stationed at Pearl Harbor, said the birth was “;a fun New Year's celebration.”;

“;It would be hard to top this; it's perfect,”; Campbell added.

“;She's got my dark hair and his (her husband's) ears, and his nose. That's all we can see so far. We can't see her eyes yet,”; she said.

Ella Kate looks a lot like her big brother, 3-year-old Asher, who is “;very sweet and sensitive,”; their mother said. She said she hopes her daughter will be the same way, but while it's still too early to tell, so far “;she has been pretty stubborn.”;

Ella Kate, named after McKinney's grandmother and mother, was dressed in a T-shirt proclaiming: “;I'm a Kapiolani Centennial Baby.”; All babies born this year at the medical center will receive one. Kauikeolani Children's Hospital, which opened in November 1909, was the predecessor of Kapiolani Medical Center. About 6,500 babies are born annually at the hospital.

Also in keeping with a hospital tradition for New Year's births, nurses chipped in to present a large hand-painted bowl of baby gifts to the parents.