He arrived just in time.

Eight seconds into 2009, Roni Anderson Cotrina Ruiz was born at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach. He gets the honor of being the first baby of the year in Palm Beach County, according to a survey of hospital maternity departments.

Thursday’s special delivery, by Caesarean section, weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 23 inches at birth.

Roni is the first child for Ingrid Ruiz, 31, a homemaker, and Jorge W. Cotrina, 47, a maintenance worker. The Salvadoran immigrants live in Greenacres.

“It was supposed to be a Christmas baby,” Cotrina said during a recovery room interview. “Instead it’s a New Year’s baby. The most amazing thing is that the baby is 11 pounds.”

Ruiz said, “It’s a very emotional day. I’m very happy.”

Cotrina said the couple arrived at the hospital about 12 hours before the birth. They had lost track of the time until the hospital staff told about their son’s special 12:00 a.m. Jan. 1 distinction.

“That’s an additional part of the celebration,” Ruiz said. By noon, they had already been visited by news crews from two television stations and the Sun Sentinel.

Roni’s history making moment occurred with just eight minutes to spare, because the county’s second baby arrived at 12:09 a.m. at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm.

Bethesda’s labor rooms were buzzing all morning, with three more boys and two girls entering the world at 1:38 a.m., 2 a.m., 8 a.m., 8:27 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., according to Janice A. Martincavage, administrative supervisor. That’s fairly typical baby business; there are about 250 to 300 births each month at the hospital.

Other early Thursday arrivals while most of Palm Beach County was sleeping: 3:23 a.m. at Glades General Hospital in Belle Glade; 4:11 a.m. at West Boca Medical Center and 4:43 a.m. at Jupiter Medical Center.

Ashley Sophia Holland was delivered 12 minutes after midnight on Thursday, a week earlier than her parents had been planning, and early enough to be named Broward County’s first baby of the New Year.

Ashley – whose initials spell her nickname, “Ash” – was born at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale weighing in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce, and measuring 21 inches long. She’s the second baby for parents Maria Valencia, 38, and David Holland, 36, of Fort Lauderdale.

Staff Writer Lisa J. Huriash contributed to this report. Marc Freeman can be reached at or 561-243-6642.