First babies of 2021 are born in Manatee County and Sarasota County

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) -Congratulations are in order for two happy families on the Suncoast.

New parents Jordan Sawmiller and Quay Mays from Bradenton, Fla. welcomed a 7 pound, 12 ounce baby boy named Messiah Mays on January 1, 2021 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital at 1:39 a.m.

“We knew we might have the first baby of 2021, but we weren’t sure. Then he was born and everyone was just congratulating us and so excited,” said Sawmiller.

The delivery team included Arunachalam Jothivijayarani, MD and John Abu, MD, along with labor and delivery nurses Katherine Strout and Melissa Tomanski.

According to Allison Gottermeier with Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, SMH is the only hospital that delivers babies in Sarasota County. She says the SMH obstetric team helped deliver ten babies on December 31, 2020, and delivered two babies on the morning of January 1, 2021. The last SMH baby born in 2020 was delivered at 10:26 p.m. on Dec. 31 – bringing the year’s total babies delivered at the hospital in 2020 to nearly 4,000.

After Mays, Sawmiller, and baby Messiah had a chance to rest and recover, SMH’s mother-baby team nurses presented them with a special New Year’s baby basket filled with gifts for the new baby.

Almost 4 hours later, the first baby of 2021 in Manatee County was born at Manatee Memorial Hospital’s Family BirthPlace. Baby Arav Uddin Mayed arrived at 5:55am weighing 6 lbs. and 12 ounces and measured 19 inches long.

Betty Chambliss from MMHHS says mom Abida Binte Sanuwar and dad Md Moinuddin (dad) are excited to bring home baby Arav to meet his big brother.

The Family BirthPlace staff presented a special basket from the hospital filled with gifts for the new baby.

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