Traverse City -- The countdown to midnight each New Year's Eve will hold a special meaning to Maddux Jack Koch -- it's also a lead-up to his birthday.
Revelers were still celebrating with champagne, kisses and noise makers when Maddux was born at 12:21 a.m. on New Year's Day.
Maddux is the first baby for Danielle and Jeff Koch of Elk Rapids, and the first newborn of 2009 for Munson Medical Center.
"I was really happy that he was born on New Years Day," Jeff Koch said. "My birthday is on July 4, so I was kind of rooting for a holiday birthday."
Jeff Koch, who owns Garfield Auto Service Center in Traverse City, said he enjoyed the fireworks on his birthday each year and is excited for his newborn son's festive birth date.
Danielle Koch, a cardiac rehabilitation nurse at Munson, was just happy for her son's healthy birth.
"I was almost two weeks overdue, so I was hoping for a baby long before New Year's," she said. "But here's what we got, so that's perfectly fine. We're glad he came out on his own."
Two of Evan Mark Glupker's uncles were hoping he'd join them with a New Year's Day birthday, but the little one was born a couple hours short.
"They were pulling for another one to add to January first birthdays," said Evan's father, Bart Glupker.
Evan was born at 10:07 p.m. Dec. 31, the last baby born in 2008 at Munson. He's the second son for Debbie and Bart Glupker, of Manton.
Gifts and prizes are typical for New Year's Day babies, but in this case the parents of 2008's last baby got the perks. H&R Block gave the Glupkers a gift bag and free tax preparation for making the cutoff to file their son as a dependent for 2008 taxes.
Dec. 31 was a long day for Debbie Glupker, who got to the hospital at 7:30 a.m.
"Our (New Year's Eve) party was him," she said as she held her newborn. "He finally made it into the world before New Year's Day. He was a week overdue, so we were ready for him to be here."
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