LYNCHBURG, Va. – For one family, 2021 is already off to an incredible start.
At 1:43 a.m., the Van De Perre family welcomed its newest member, Cooper Bryce.
Little Cooper is the first baby born within the Centra Health system.
He is the second son of Kaleb and Piper Van De Perre.
He weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce and is 20 inches long.
Piper was due on Jan. 18, so the Friday morning delivery came as a bit of a surprise.
“I thought we might be the first baby of the New Year, but I knew another mother who might already be in labor could arrive at the hospital and be ahead of us. I also knew there was a mother in the room next to me pushing when I was pushing. So, we weren’t sure until he actually arrived,”Piper said in a news release by Centra.
The hat Cooper is wearing was made by the mother of a Labor and Delivery nurse specifically for Centra’s New Years’ Baby.