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January 8, 2004
by Ayesha Ahmad, The Gazette

Laurel Baby is Hospital's First in 2004

JANUARY 8, 2004, WASHINGTON D.C. -- One of Laurel's newest residents was not supposed to be born for another month. But at 8:35 a.m. on Jan. 1, Sita Nair achieved the special status of first baby born in 2004 at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly.

"It was a shock for us when my water broke right at New Year's Day, around 2 in the morning," said her mother, Suja Nair. "Right then I looked at my husband and said, 'This is a New Year's baby.'"

Along with a Bowie baby girl born at 10:46 p.m. on Dec. 31 -- the last baby of 2003 -- the hospital honored Sita Nair with a Baby New Year's Celebration on Jan. 1. For each family, the hospital provided a $500 savings bond in the child's name; embroidered bath robe sets for mother, father and baby; chocolate cigars for the fathers; bath and body gifts for the mothers; and other baby gifts.

Suja Nair said she was still "drugged up" during the celebration, but her husband, Sandeep - who said he "couldn't stop smiling" - attended parts of it, and said the hospital staff was very kind.

"A lot of people asked me how I felt [having a New Year's baby] ... That wasn't the important thing," Sandeep Nair said. "I was just more like - 'Wow, I got a baby!' I was worried about Suja, so I was running back and forth."

Suja Nair grew up in Prince George's County, and with her husband moved from Silver Spring to her parents' home in Laurel this fall, while their house was being built near Laurel Mall. They moved into their new home in September.

Their daughter - the first grandchild on both sides of the family - weighed 4 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, and remained in neonatal care for most of the week for monitoring. But she is perfectly healthy, and the natural delivery went well, Suja Nair said, after a six-hour labor.

Sandeep Nair, whose family flew down from Ottawa, said the experience was "awesome and life-changing." He stayed with his wife during the delivery and even cut the umbilical cord.

"My mom freaked out more than he did," said Suja Nair, "and she's been a nurse for 29 years."

Suja Nair's mother, Laurel resident Lakshmi Paniker, has served those years at Prince George's Hospital Center, and received cake and other items on her floor when Sita was born.

"I feel great being a grandmother, and plus this is my hospital, the first baby," Paniker said. "We are really happy."