Posted on 01/02/2004 10:58:33 AM PST by beaversmom
Bawling out old, bawling in new
Stroke of midnight divides 2 births into different tax breaks
By Jim Sheeler, Rocky Mountain News January 2, 2004
As the clock neared midnight in the maternity ward at University Hospital, Ellen Hoehne thought of asking to move her bed closer to a window, so she could watch the fireworks.
Twenty miles away, at Littleton Adventist Hospital, Susan Romero looked at the clock and then at her husband.
"This might just happen," they thought.
"Baby New Year."
By the end of the night, one of the women would have the metro area's first baby of 2004, and one would give birth to the last baby of 2003.
Within hours, one of the babies would be fawned over as the star of her own news conference; the other baby would miss all that attention, but would earn her family a somewhat more tangible benefit.
After it all, both couples would say that all they wanted was a healthy baby. As midnight approached, however, few in the maternity ward could avoid noticing the clock.
Shortly before midnight Wednesday, a little girl took her first breaths. Within twenty minutes, two babies were separated by a new year.
Accountants say funny things
As a certified public accountant, Susan Romero, 28, knew the additional benefits of having her baby on her original due date, Dec. 29, which also happened to be her husband's birthday. When that date passed, her accountant friends were among the first to realize the implications.
"They were saying, 'Have that baby, go have it now,'" she said.
By having the baby in 2003, she could claim an exemption of $3,050 and a child tax credit of up to $1,000.
"All along, people at work were telling me, 'You gotta get the tax break,' and they started giving us suggestions on how to make the baby come earlier," said Jamie Romero, her husband of three years. "One of my co-workers said, 'You gotta eat at the Saucy Noodle restaurant in Bonnie Brae.' So we went on Saturday and expected to have the baby on Sunday."
She had manicotti. It didn't work.
By Wednesday, the couple figured there was no chance to have a baby in 2003. When she went into labor that afternoon, they still assumed the baby would show up sometime in the evening on New Year's Day. Then they saw the clock.
"We weren't really concerned about it until about 10:30 p.m., and I said, 'Well, maybe this could actually happen. If the baby hurries up, maybe we could be the last one of this year or the first one of next year," Jamie Romero said.
"I was talking to the nurse and I remember asking, 'Is it better to have your picture in the paper or to get the deduction?' "
In the hospital room, speaking to a reporter, he had a realization.
"I guess we'll have the best of both worlds."
Samantha Marie Romero was born Dec. 31, 2003, at 11:51 p.m.
Baby arrived in a hurry
Ellen Hoehne never had a chance to move her bed to get closer to the fireworks. She couldn't have seen them from the delivery room anyway.
"When the baby decided to come, she was quick," the 42-year-old mother said Thursday afternoon, as a throng of television cameras pointed at a bassinet holding the Denver area's official New Year's Baby.
Alexandra Brooke Hoehne was born Jan. 1, at 12:10 a.m.
"We made it by 10 minutes," said her father, Lt. Col. Richard Hoehne, who serves as commander of Army troops at Buckley Air Force Base. "But all we were hoping for was a healthy baby."
Alexandra has a 10-year-old brother and 8-year-old sister, who will see the baby when she is expected to come home today.
Though the Hoehnes say that all the attention will make good scrapbook material, they said they still can't figure out all the hoopla.
The nurses on the maternity ward could provide a little help.
Nurses' friendly competition
Each year, just as the fireworks fade, the telephone calls begin, as nurses on maternity wards across the metro area check with each other to compare their New Year's Baby birth times.
"It's a friendly competition," said Anne Behring, charge nurse at University Hospital, "Friendly and fun."
Well, usually friendly. One year, one of the hospitals scheduled a caesarian section near midnight, guaranteeing the year's first baby. As far as the nurses were concerned, that babe was disqualified.
No such caesarian shenanigans were apparent this year, and shortly after Alexandra was born, the nurses got the official word. Swedish Medical Center's first baby came in at 12:13. Three minutes too late.
"At 1 a.m. we heard all sorts of whooping and hollering (from the nurses' station)," Lt. Col. Hoehne said. "We thought it was another baby being born. It turned out that it was the confirmation of the first baby."
Love is all they need
Thursday afternoon, inside her hospital room in Littleton, Susan Romero held the warm little bundle in her arms, caressing her daughter's thicket of black hair.
As she prepared for the new family's first night together, there was an end to the talk of tax deductions or the race to New Year's Eve. There, she held what really mattered.
"It's hard to put into words," she said. "It's just . . ."
"Love," her husband said, holding her arm, touching the baby. "It's just love."
"Instant love," she said.
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