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About four minutes after his mother was wheeled into Citrus Memorial Hospital, the county's first child greets the new year.
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 2, 2003
INVERNESS -- The first baby of 2003 in Citrus County was in a big hurry to get into the world.
Corvin Marquis Henry probably set some sort of record for a delivery: about four minutes.
"At 1:28 his mother was being wheeled into the hospital, and he was born at 1:32," said Margie Leturno, manager of the Baby Block, the obstetrics unit at Citrus Memorial Hospital.
The mother of the first 2003 baby, Marquita Watts, 19, said she spent a sleepless night on New Year's Eve, as the baby moved and kicked.
About 7 a.m. Wednesday, she started experiencing back pains, but they probably marked the beginning of labor.
The pain wouldn't go away, and she called the obstetrics unit about 12:30 p.m. Nurses there asked her how far apart the labor pains were, but she was unable to time them. She had a contraction while on the phone, and said she felt like she needed to push the baby out.
Nurses told her to come to the hospital immediately.
"But first, I had to call my mother," Watts said.
Watts lives in Mossy Oaks, a subdivision just a few minutes away from the hospital. Her mother, Nancy Rosa, lives on the west side of town, about 15 minutes away.
When Watts hadn't arrived at Citrus Memorial by 1:15 p.m., the nurses called her again. This time, they told her an ambulance was on its way.
"When the ambulance got there, my mom was already loading me into her car," Watts said. "She took me to the hospital."
"I was telling her to hurry because I could feel the baby's head coming out," she said.
The car, trailed by an ambulance and a police cruiser, made the quick trip to the hospital.
As Watts was being taken inside on a wheelchair, Dr. Armando Rojas awaited in a delivery room. The super-short delivery was without complications.
Corvin Marquis Henry made his entry into the world at 1:32 p.m. He weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and was about 19 inches long. His father is Corvin Tremaine Henry, 19, of Inverness.
Watts, a housekeeper at an Inverness nursing home, said she was unprepared to be in the spotlight as having the first baby of the year.
By late afternoon, however, she was feeling fine and meeting with reporters and photographers. This is her first child.
"He was due around Christmas," she said. "I never thought he'd hold out until the new year."