The Mahoning Valley’s first baby of 2022 couldn’t wait to arrive.
Dominic Anthony Barone was born to Brittany and Anthony Barone of Austintown at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, three weeks before his due date. But this baby always has been on his own timetable, according to his mother.
“It took us six years to get pregnant,” she said Saturday. “Yesterday morning it was quite a surprise when my water broke, and we went to the hospital. Things moved pretty quick. Later in the evening, the doctor joked, ‘Maybe we can hold off until New Year’s …’”
Brittany Barone, like any woman in labor, had no desire to delay her delivery. The timing just worked out that way, she said.
“I know we had the TV on (in the delivery room),” Anthony Barone said. “I was kind of looking over to see the time. The doctor came in at 11:58 (p.m.), and we kind of knew then.”
Dominic weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces at birth and was 20 inches long. His mother called him “a little blessing.”
“He’s kind of a miracle baby for us,” she said. “And it’s special that it happened, of all days, on New Year’s Day. It’s usually a difficult day for us. We lost my grandma 14 years ago on New Year’s Day. He’s kind of a little gift from her.”
In Trumbull County, no infant was in a hurry to a arrive in a world with rising COVID-19 cases and without Betty White. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, there had been no births at St. Joseph Warren Hospital.