PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County’s first baby of 2016 was born Sunday morning at Jefferson Healthcare hospital.
Emma Claire Schaitel was born at 6:40 a.m. to Chimacum residents Jennifer White, 37, and Sean Schaitel, 33.
“It was probably one of the hardest but most rewarding experiences I have ever had. She’s beautiful and perfect,” White said.
White was due Dec. 28 and the couple “took it easy” over the holidays. Emma kept them waiting for five more days, she said.
The healthy new baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 21 inches long.
“She’s a long-legged girl,” White said.
Labor and delivery, and the first day with their new child, was so hectic White said she did not realize that her baby was the first of the new year in Jefferson County.
“They might have told me at some point,” she said, but as of Monday morning the news came as a surprise to the new
mother.
White and Schaitel are operators of Solstice Farm, and Emma Claire is their first child.
“I’m thinking of what she’s going to be, who she will be,” White said.
Baby Emma and other babies born before Sept. 1 this year will be members of the Class of 2034.
The doctors and nurses at the hospital were wonderful and White’s mother, Georgiana White, and a friend, Dana Nixon, were helpful and supportive, she said.
The new family will receive a gift basket from the nurses at the hospital, who gathered and hand-knit a collection of new baby items for the first baby of the new year.
The first Clallam County baby was born Saturday in Port Angeles, and was also a girl.
Penelope Grace Goodwin was born to Christian and Kimberly Goodwin of Port Angeles at 9:12 a.m. at Olympic Medical Center.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
