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Citrus welcomes the first area baby of 2001 at 12:01 a.m. Others followed in minutes and hours.
By LISA GREENE and BILL VARIAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 2, 2001
Devin Michael Hunter of Citrus County entered the world at 12:01 a.m. Monday to become Tampa Bay's first baby of 2001.
In Hillsborough County, Meili Marie McCleary was born just three minutes later.
Pinellas County's first 2001 baby wasn't in such a hurry. Hunter Scott Oliver waited until 1:41 a.m. to arrive.
In Pasco County, Haley Madison Marinec didn't show up until 4:46 a.m., and Hernando County didn't expect a New Year's Day baby at all.
At 8 pounds, 10 ounces, Devin was heaviest as well as first. He was born by Caesarean section at Citrus Memorial Hospital. Devin's parents, Robert and Jamie Hunter, are divorced, but plan to reunite.
Jamie Hunter, 21, has three girls, ages 4, 2 and 1, the youngest also with Robert Hunter. He works as a cook and she plans to stay home with the children. They live in Hernando.
Doctors performed a C-section because Devin was turned the wrong way. The maternity ward staff marked his birth by playing Brahms' Lullaby, a hospital tradition with each child born there.
At Tampa General Hospital, Meili McCleary made her appearance two weeks early. Her parents, Bradley and Jeannie McCleary, were eating dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill when Jeannie McCleary, 20, went into labor. They left for the hospital before the entrees arrived.
Bradley McCleary said the couple was focused on the birth of their first child, not the clock. He was still surprised by all the attention Monday afternoon.
"I was not expecting this at all," he said. "It's one thing to have a baby. It's an amazing thing. But all this other stuff is just, wow."
McCleary was precise about his daughter's attributes: Weight, 7 pounds, 4.8 ounces. Length, 18 3/4 inches. Looks, just like her mother, from her toenails to her eyebrows.
"The baby is perfect," he said. "She's been wonderful."
In Pinellas, Hunter Oliver's father expected his first son to have a special birthday.
"I thought he was going to be a Christmas baby," Scott Oliver said.
But he knew baby Hunter would have to find a way to distinguish himself. Hunter's three big sisters -- Scott Oliver's twins Amber and Brianna, 7; and the couple's daughter Kelly, 5 -- all share an Oct. 27 birthday.
"Dec. 31 would have been nice for me. I was thinking, "Okay, I could use that tax break,' " Scott Oliver said. "But the irony of everything -- this is kind of unusual."
Pasco County residents Oliver, a detective, and his wife, Tonya, a prosecutor, had planned to spend New Year's Eve at home. But after she went into labor, the family wound up at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs.
The girls saw the new year arrive with the hospital staff. But they fell asleep before their brother was born by Caesarean section. He weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces.
"His big sisters are kind of amazed with him," Scott Oliver said. "They think he's really neat."
In Pasco County, Haley was doing well after being born a month early. She weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces.
"It was just such a beautiful surprise," said her mother, Sheli Gerwe, 27.
Gerwe and Haley's father, Paul Marinec, also have a 16-month-old son, Devon, and Gerwe has an 8-year-old son, Alex.
After a small New Year's Eve party at their home, Gerwe woke Marinec at 3 a.m. They arrived at the hospital barely an hour before Haley was born.
"It was pretty amazing," Marinec said. "One day we'll probably go over the whole story with her.
"We'll tell her it was a very long night, a very late night, but a very good way to break in the new year."
- Staff Writer Brady Dennis contributed to this report.