New Year’s Baby is a first in several ways

The delivery date of Charlie and Kendra Vanderweyst’s son, Henry Arthur Vanderweyst, wasn’t until January 10, but he came into the world at 2:40 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2. His birth qualifies him as the first baby born in 2016 at Mayo Clinic Health System in New Prague. In his own family he was also first in other ways.

Henry, weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces and 19 inches long at birth, is the Vanderweyst’s first child.

"Everything went well," said Kendra about the birth. Dr. C. Nic Moga delivered Henry.

His grandparents are Myron and Linda Vanderweyst of Rice and Lonnie and Brenda Seifert of New Prague.

Many people know Henry’s grandfather Lonnie Seifert, as he’s the principal of New Prague High School. "Anytime you have a first grandchild it’s special. That he’s the first baby born in the New Year adds a little something," said Lonnie. "We had an idea he’d be a little early, but not that early. It was a little bit of a surprise."

As the New Year's baby in New Prague, Henry and his family will receive a package of gifts from participating sponsors in The New Prague Times’ New Year’s Baby Contest.

In addition, The Times sponsors a contest for readers to guess the time of the arrival of the New Year's baby. Ty Schoenbauer of New Prague, won with a date and time of January 2 at 2:51 p.m. Second place goes to Julius Bisek of New Prague, who picked January 2 at 2:06 p.m. Schoenbauer gets a $100 certificate and Bisek gets a $50 certificate that they can spend at any of the contest sponsors.

For more information see the ad on Page 2 of this week's edition of The New Prague Times.