There wasn’t a countdown to “Happy New Year” in Patricia Culpepper’s delivery room, but right as she was about to push, her doctor got a page saying there was sparkling apple cider in the hospital break room.
Forty seconds after midnight Jan. 1, the Culpeppers welcomed baby Broden into the world. He’s the first baby born in 2024 at Salem Hospital, and likely in the state. He weighed 6 pounds, 11.6 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.
With a due date of Jan. 4, she hadn’t expected to go into labor on New Year’s Eve. They were told he was the first baby in the hospital almost immediately but she was distracted, to say the least.
“I was like ‘Oh that’s cool. That’s neat,’ and then, you know, everything else that comes after it,” she said, laughing. “I didn’t realize it was a big deal.”
The family, from Independence, typically has a quiet night in on New Years Eve, and tries their best to stay up until midnight.
Patricia works as a medical assistant for Kaiser Permanente and her husband Jonathan is a utility pipe layer for an excavation company. Their 9-year-old daughter Brooke is in the third grade, and was back to school on Tuesday.
“Our family initials are PBs&J,” they said in a statement from Salem Health.
Broden had a rough start, she said, and staff was monitoring his congestion and breathing on Tuesday. She said they may be able to go home by the afternoon if they get the all-clear.
“The hospital staff that we have had has been absolutely amazing from the time that we came in,” she said. “We’ve been super happy with our experience and the help that we’ve received.”
Salem Reporter asked Anne Bean, who had Salem Hospital’s first baby of 2023, if she had any advice for the 2024 parents.
“The first year is a wild ride, it is so many sweet moments, but when the challenging moments come, remember that no phase lasts forever,” she said. “It’s already amazing how fast that year went.”
Her daughter, Natalie, was born at 12:03 a.m. on New Year’s Day, 2023. She said something special about having the first baby of the year is that no one asks how old she is.
“They just know, ‘oh, so she’s already seven months’ and ‘oh, it’s almost her birthday,’ because everyone knows your baby’s birthday,” she said.
The family hiked at Silver Falls on New Year’s Day, including their five other children and Bean’s parents.
Natalie has recently gotten better at sleeping, Bean said. “And she is a mover, she’s a climber. We call her ‘little goat’ because she likes to climb on things, and she will eat anything around. But she’s a sweet little one.”
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
