When Jessica Eckhart woke up on New Year’s Eve morning, perhaps her new mother’s inclination was kicking in.
“I definitely woke up saying I was going to squeeze in a nap,” said the 25-year-old.
Eckhart and her husband, Kyle, 27, welcomed Alexander Michael Eckhart at 12:46 a.m. on New Year’s Day at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center.
Little Alexander, weighing in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 inches, was the first baby born in Summit County in 2016. The next baby followed at Summa Akron City Hospital at 1:56 a.m.
Alexander wasn’t due to be born until Jan. 28. But at 36 weeks on the dot, he decided to arrive.
Jessica said she had just packed her hospital bag two days prior, though the car seat wasn’t ready.
The Munroe Falls couple, who married in October 2014, had just finished celebrating a belated Christmas at their house with Kyle Eckhart’s family around 3 p.m. when Jessica went to the restroom.
She emerged asking, “So how do you know if your water broke?”
The high school sweethearts from rival schools — he graduated from Jackson High School and she from Hoover — quickly made it to the hospital by about 4 p.m. for the birth of their first child and the first grandchild for both sides of the family.
As the new year approached and Jessica pushed for 1› hours, “we were hoping for a tax-break baby. We pushed during the ball drop,” she said.
On the television was Ryan Seacrest from Times Square.
“It was one of those good-luck things. We had to watch the ball drop,” she said.
The Eckharts said they’d like to have two kids and are looking forward to bringing Alexander home to meet Vince, their 110-pound shepherd mix. Kyle is a software engineer and Jessica worked at the front desk at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls until standing for eight hours a day became too hard recently. She plans on staying home with the baby.
When asked whether he had any predictions of the future for his son or sports he might play, the new dad said: “I don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” stroking the baby’s full head of brown hair.
Said Mom: “He was a strong kicker. Maybe he’ll play soccer, or be a dancer.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty