Shatoria Blue paused in midsentence.
As she cradled her sleeping newborn, Paris, in her arms Sunday afternoon at Summa Akron City Hospital, she wondered aloud if she should finish her thought.
Why had she been hoping that Paris had been born earlier? As in 2016.
Showing off a sense of humor, she admitted with a big laugh: the tax deduction, of course.
“I wanted to claim her on my taxes. Is that bad to say?” she asked, smiling.
Blue, 27, and father Pierre Jenkins, 28, of Akron, welcomed their new child into the world at 2:50 a.m. Sunday, making Paris the first baby born in Summit County in 2017.
She was 6 pounds, 15 ounces and 20.9 inches.
Paris, who wore a special New Year’s hat and a pink onesie dotted with pink ribbons, joins Blue’s other kids, Chase, 4, and Dailyn, 2, and Jenkins’ daughter Nevaeh, 1.
Blue and Jenkins, who have been together for a year and are planning to get married, are excited about having a big family.
“I didn’t have a lot of siblings close to my age,” said Blue, who works in customer service and billing at PayMed Solutions/FirstCredit in Akron. “Me and my brother are 14 years apart. I didn’t have any cousins my age. So I’m glad that they’re close. They’re always going to have somebody.”
She also thought it was funny that her third child is a New Year’s Day baby. Paris was due Jan. 5.
Chase was born on Valentine’s Day, and Dailyn was born in August.
“I have a New Year’s Day baby, a Valentine’s baby and a summer baby,” Blue mused while chatting and with the Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers game on the television in the background. (Jenkins is a Steelers fan. Blue is more of a college football fan and bemoaned the Ohio State University loss a day earlier to Clemson University.)
Blue also mentioned that Paris was born on the same day as Blue’s grandmother, who died of breast cancer in 2001.
“I knew for some reason she was going to come [Sunday],” she said.
Paris, who is named after Pierre’s brother, arrived quickly.
Blue estimated that she delivered a mere 25 minutes after arriving at the hospital. She was also too far along to receive an epidural anesthetic.
That left her in a panic about a natural birth. The Summa nurses came to her rescue, though.
“I wasn’t expecting to go natural,” Blue said. “I was freaking out. They helped me out a lot and calmed me down. That was a blessing.”
She and Jenkins, who builds corrugated boxes at Jamestown Container in Macedonia, also reflected on the fact that their lives are going to change because of their New Year’s baby.
“Christmas is going to be crazy,” Blue said, noting that they’ll now be celebrating a holiday and birthday so close together.
“New Year’s Eve partying is over,” Jenkins added with a laugh.
Meanwhile, across the city, the first baby born at Cleveland Clinic Akron General was Carter Lee Austin Dillree.
Carter, who arrived at 8:47 a.m. and was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20.5 inches, is the son of Elizabeth and Joshua Dillree of Green.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .