St. Charles Delivers the First Baby Born in Port Jefferson in 2011

It's official. The first baby born in the village of Port Jefferson was delivered at St. Charles Hospital on Jan. 1 at 6:23 a.m. Debbie and Joe Lena welcomed their baby girl into the world after mom went into labor at 10:45 p.m. on New Years Eve. (That's seven and a half hours of labor for those who are counting.) Baby Alexandra weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 19 ½ inches long.

The Lenas, both of whom are 8th grade teachers, had planned to spend New Years Eve having dinner out at a restaurant, not at St. Charles Hospital but chance intervened.

Fortunately the restaurant changed their reservation to an earlier time at the last minute so the new parents were able to enjoy their holiday plans before Debbie unexpectedly went into labor later that evening. They arrived at St. Charles just after midnight.

It turns out that it was good thing that the reservation was changed or else the couple would have been sitting in restaurant when Debbie went into labor.

This is their first baby.

Congratulations to Debbie and Joe Lena. We wish them well in their new adventure as parents.

According to a hospital spokesperson Marilyn Fabricate, nearly 2,200 are delivered at St. Charles each year.