Meet Seattle's first baby of the New Year

By KOMO Staff Published: Jan 1, 2013 at 2:10 PM PDT Last Updated: Jan 2, 2013 at 8:38 AM PDT
SEATTLE -- When the fireworks welcoming 2013 began launching from the Space Needle at midnight, Melissa Soltysik was in labor on a hospital bed at Group Health on Capitol Hill.

"I was close to the end. I would push, and then we would all take a break and look at the fireworks until it was time to push again," she said.

Her son, Oliver James Soltysik was born at at 12:11 a.m., making him the first baby of the New Year in Seattle.

"He's 13 days late, but he was worth the wait," said Oliver's father, Joshua Soltysik.

The couple said Melissa was in labor for several hours and they weren't really thinking about the possibility of a New Year's baby.

"The nurses thought we were going to have him a little earlier in the night. We had made all this progress and it just kind of slowed down. Missed that tax break by that much," Joshua said with a smile.

Oliver is the couple's first child and was 8 pounds, 12 ounces when he was born.

Joshua said he felt amazing when he saw his son for the first time.

"It's going to be hard to top this New Year's Eve for us, that's for sure."

Melissa and Joshua said they plan to have more children but for now are enjoying their time as new parents.

"I'm pretty in love," Melissa said while holding her son. "I can't stop looking at him."