The first baby born in 2023 in Hall County arrived Sunday morning at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton.
Haisley Robin Garcia was born at 3:03 a.m. on Jan. 1 at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Haisley's mother, Danelle Garcia, said her daughter decided to make an early appearance.
"It was crazy," Garcia said. "She was 16 days early. So we definitely were not expecting it. My husband kind of thought I was joking when I told him he needed to come in. He had tickets to the Ohio State/Georgia game and he thought I was messing around with him in that I just didn't want him to go to the game. And I was like, 'No, this is serious. Like she's coming.'"
Haisley is not the first person in her family who was born on a holiday. Her mother was born on Thanksgiving.
"Every seven years my birthday falls on a holiday, but she gets the same holiday every single year," Garcia said.
Haisley met her older brother, 4-year-old Hendrix, on Sunday morning. He is excited to be a big brother, but Garcia said he was surprised by how small Haisley looked.
"He said, 'When is she getting big?' And I was like, 'Well that's going to take a while buddy.' And then I said 'You want to hold her?' Because the whole pregnancy he was like, 'I just wanna hold her, I want to hold her.' And I said 'You wanna hold her?' and he's like, 'Umm when we get home.'"
Garcia said the staff at Northeast Georgia Medical Center have been amazing and have given her a lot of baby swag. Garcia and her family moved to Hall County a year ago from Ohio and while she was initially nervous about moving to the area, she has had an amazing experience with the hospital.
"I got a huge gift basket I was just looking through," Garcia said. "Stuffed animals, blankets, pictures, a gift card from the hospital and a baby gate... They've just been very, very excited and encouraging for the whole, you know, for her being born on a holiday."
