Emily Rose Duff was the first baby born in Ireland in 2014. She arrived at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin at five seconds past midnight weighing 3.69kg.
Emily was determined to be the first baby of 2014 it seems given she was due over two weeks earlier, on December 17th, but waited for 2014 to make her debut.
Speaking to The Irish Times, her mother Monica Duff from Griffith Avenue in Dublin said she is "doing great" .
“I came in for induction yesterday, was brought to the labour ward at 10.10pm with the final stages of labour starting at ten to midnight and she was born at five seconds past… I wasn’t even looking at the clock. She is sleeping well and doing great,” she said.
The hospital gave Emily a present to mark her special status which will be opened when her dad Brian brings her two older siblings Matthew (6) and Michelle (3) in to see their new sister later today.
Over at the Coombe, baby Eloise Browne arrived hot on Emily’s heels at 20 seconds past midnight to Eugenia Lomax Browne and Owen Browne from Firhouse in Dublin. Weighing 2.94kg, she is the couple’s second child.
The Rotunda welcomed its first baby, a boy weighing 3.31kg, at 24 minutes past midnight. His mother, Aiying Chen, hasn’t decided on a name as yet.
In Co Galway a baby girl was born at fifteen minutes past midnight in Portiuncula Hospital to Rosaleen and Seán Mannion with another girl following in Galway University Hospital three minutes later to Aissatoyn Bah.
Cork University Hospital welcomed its first baby, a boy, at 1.58am weighing 3.8kg to Lorna and David Cotter from Castlemartyr.
A spokeswoman for Cavan General Hospital said they had a busy night welcoming the first of their five early New Year’s Day babies five minutes before 1am.
Babies in Mullingar, Portlaoise and Kilkenny were in no hurry to greet 2014 with local hospitals reporting no babies born as of 11am this morning.