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Long Island hospitals introduced their first babies of 2026 on New Year’s Day, with Stony Brook University Hospital announcing its first newborn of the year and Northwell Health hospitals marking milestone arrivals of their own — including one particularly fittingly named baby.
Mariela Enriquez Flores and Jose Ramirez of Riverhead welcomed their son, Liam Ramirez-Enriquez, at 8:23 a.m. on Jan. 1, making him the very first baby born at Stony Brook University Hospital in 2026, the hospital said.
Liam weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was delivered by Drs. Julia Xavier, Dana Masand and Diana Calero-Kunda and registered nurse Meaghan Maggio.
“The purest love has just arrived with your little heartbeat Liam,” the newborn’s parents said in a statement. The couple are first-time parents.
Elsewhere on Long Island, Northwell Health also rang in the new year with its first babies of 2026, beginning shortly after midnight.
At North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Rocky Cocchiarella was born at 1:55 a.m., becoming the hospital’s first baby of the year. North Shore’s first-baby champ weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 20 inches long.
For Bailey Perry and Dante Cocchiarella of Sea Cliff, Rocky is their first child.
Perry, who was also born at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, described the delivery as a full-circle moment, likening it to the “circle of life.”
“I feel good. It’s baby number one,” she said, calling the New Year’s Day birth “amazing and incredible.”
Another Northwell hospital also celebrated its first baby arrival. At Long Island Jewish Medical Center — located in Glen Oaks on the border of Nassau and Queens — Ana Elena Gutierrez-Tavares and Luis Gutierrez welcomed their son, Mateo, at 2:30 a.m.
Mateo weighed 10 pounds and measured just over 22 inches long. Assisting in his delivery was Gutierrez-Tavares’ cousin and LIJ Medical Center delivery nurse Elizabeth Marin.
