BABY, BABY, BABY!

It's a three-way tie for first child of 2007 as a trio of moms gives birth at 12:01

With the clock ticking closer to midnight on New Year's Eve, Kahealanialoha Contemplo was urged by nurses and her boyfriend at Kaiser Moanalua Hospital to wait until 2007 to give birth to her third child.

On the other side of the island, at Wahiawa General Hospital, Luciana Chapelin-Carvalho doubted her chances of delivering the first baby of the new year when contractions began at 6 a.m., 18 hours before midnight.

And the prospects didn't look promising for Heather Rector either, who went into labor Sunday afternoon at Tripler Army Medical Center for a baby expected on Jan. 13.

But exactly one minute after midnight yesterday, the three women delivered Hawaii's first babies of the year, all of them girls born before their due dates.

Contemplo, 20, was shocked with the attention she got from TV and newspaper reporters after delivering Kyrah Makalapua Kekauoha Contemplo three days before her due date.

"It's actually exciting," said Contemplo, a cashier at Volcano Joe's who has two other children, ages 1 and 2. "I didn't know it was such a big deal until all these newspeople came in."

As Contemplo lay on a hospital bed after checking in at 9 p.m., her boyfriend, 21-year-old William Kekauoha III, held her and joined nurses in encouraging her to "hold it" until the turn of the year.

"Everybody was telling me to 'hold it,' " said Contemplo, whose newborn weighs 6 pounds and 8 ounces. "They were more excited than I was."

Birth times are recorded the exact moment that a baby comes out of a mother's womb, with hospital staff keeping a close watch on the clock during the delivery.

Last year, 21-year-old Valerie Kyle delivered Hawaii's first baby of 2006 at Tripler 26 minutes past midnight. Ashlynn Janae Kyle came into the world weighing 7 pounds and 6 1/2 ounces.

Chapelin-Carvalho's due date was Thursday, but contractions sent the 40-year-old North Shore resident to the hospital at 6 p.m. Sunday. Her daughter Sofia weighed 7 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces and measured 20 1/2 inches, a height that Chapelin-Carvalho called "a good size."

"First, I didn't think I would have the baby by 12 or 1, there was no sign," she said, adding that as a delivery nurse at Wahiawa General Hospital, she knows the signs that come immediately before the end of a pregnancy. "I thought I would have the last baby of the year. I couldn't believe it."

For Heather Rector and husband Pvt. Jonathan Rector, the New Year's Day birth of their first daughter, whom they named Amelie, brought a double dose of surprise. The child, who came in at 8 pounds and 2 ounces, also shares the same birthday as her father, who was born at 8 a.m. at an Air Force base in Idaho 19 years ago.

"We thought we would be the only ones, and they (the nurses) told us that there were two others. It was still kind of exciting, because they were all at the same time," said Heather, a 19-year-old who was born on New Year's Eve.

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