Juanita Arroyo of Hanford wasn't expecting a New Year's baby.

She wasn't due to give birth until Jan. 17.

But suddenly her water broke 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. She rushed to the Central Valley General Hospital, where she was in labor for 22 hours. Arroyo gave birth to Aurelio Garcia at 12:16 a.m. Thursday, the first baby born in Hanford in 2009. He weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce.

The father, Santiago Garcia, 36, who works as a mechanic, was nervous to see Arroyo in pain for so long. He had brought blue and white balloons, as well as plants.

When little Aurelio was delivered, five nurses all started clapping.

"I was happy at the same time I was in pain for so long," said Arroyo, 30, a tomato inspector. "I didn't think I was going to have the first baby."

The couple's first baby has black hair and white soft warm skin. Aurelio started crying a lot after birth. His eyes, a grayish blue, were slightly opened, Arroyo said.

"He cried and cried," she said.

The child was named after his grandfather.

Arroyo didn't work for much of last year. Her work is tiring, involving standing up on her feet for eight hours a day.

Arroyo plans to take care of Aurelio all of this year at her Hanford home.

She was given white and purple flowers by her sister and pink flowers by friends. Staff from the hospital gave her and the newborn baby a gift basket stuffed with a yellow-orange giraffe, a little handmade black cap, a blue blanket with car designs, a little plate and spoon, lotion, apple cider and baby gold fish crackers.

Asked how she plans to celebrate the new year, Arroyo said: "I am going to go home and rest and once I get better I don't know. What more celebration do I want other than having a baby? It's a celebration."

(Jan. 3, 2008)