Say hello to New Year's babies of South Florida

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – The new year has brought a fresh crop of New Year's babies to South Florida.

Several newborns arrived in the early-morning hours Monday at area hospitals, but little Brendan Jorge De Freitas has the honor of being the first South Florida baby of 2018.

He arrived at 12:05 a.m. at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines. 

His mother and father, Marissa and Wayne Freitas, checked into the hospital Sunday. As her labor continued on into the night, they said the nurses got excited as midnight approached.

"When the nurses were making a big deal about it, we realized it was real," said Dr Marissa de Freitas, a pediatrician at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

At 8 pounds, Brendan was only 5 minutes late -- Marissa de Freitas' due date was Sunday.

Francesca Garcia arrived less an hour later at 12:58 a.m. at South Miami Hospital in southwest Miami-Dade County. Weighing in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, Francesca was the first baby born in Miami-Dade County in 2018.

"She wanted to make a grand entrance and she did," Francesca's mother, Jessica Garcia, said.

Francesca is Arsena Emile's first granddaughter and she couldn't be happier.

“She is famous from the start," Emile said.

Although they weren't "firsts" of the 2018, several South Florida babies came pretty close.

At 12:07, two minutes after Brendan was born, Natali Lin Crespo came into the world at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. She weighs 9 pounds, 10 ounces. 

And not to be left out, Valentino Ortiz was born at 1:58 a.m. at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. Valentino weighs 7 pounds, 13 ounces.