MANSFIELD — On the first day of the new year, Mikeala and Zak Kennedy celebrated the birth their first child and the first baby of 2019 in Richland County.
Their baby boy, Kane Kennedy, was born at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 1 at the OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital’s birthing unit.
Mikelala was due to deliver on Jan. 6 and scheduled to be induced, Jan. 9.
“But I said, he’d probably be born on Christmas or New Year’s because we typically work on Tuesdays, and this is our first year off,” she said.
Still, when they arrived at the hospital earlier that day, Mikelala figured she would have been sent home. Instead, Kane was born. He weighed in at 8.5 pounds and measured 20 inches long.
According to Christina Thompson, communications and media relations manager at the hospital, nearly 1,000 babies are born each year in Richland County.
“So this is one in a thousand,” she said.
Thompson checks both OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby to determine, which baby is born first in the county.
This year, there was some competition for the title of Baby New Year. Another baby was born that evening at OhioHealth Mansfield in a nearby room.
“They might not have been competing, but we were,” Mikeala said.
The new mother anticipates heading home tomorrow, where she looks forward to sleeping in her own bed.
Zak is anticipating the same, as he’s been staying with his wife. He said he’s almost rolled off the couch in the room.
“I feel like a duck in water,” Zak said about his new baby. “On the surface everything looks calm, but underneath my feet are going a mile a minute.”
The boy’s name was chosen by Mikeala. He was named after one of her favorite country singers, Kane Brown. “Lose It” is her favorite song by Brown.
Mikeala is from Galion, and Zak is from Mount Vernon. The couple asked Richland Source to refrain from publishing where they reside.
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