2023 Baby New Year
The QCs First Baby of 2023 Arrived At 12:54 am
DAVENPORT, Iowa – January 01, 2023 – Emilia Elizabeth Furl slept through most of her star turn in front of the Quad-Cities media on New Year’s Day. As her parents, Catherine and Tony Furlin, of Bellevue, Iowa, answered questions, little Emilia would move her tiny figures and yawn.
The couple welcomed Emilia Elizabeth into the world at 12:54 a.m. Sunday morning at Genesis Medical Center BirthCenter, in Davenport, making here the Quad-Cities’ 2023 Baby New Year.
Emilia, the Furlin’s fifth child and second born at Genesis, weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and was 17.75 inches long.
Catherine Furlin wasn’t thinking about having the New Year’s Baby while getting her kids ready for a pajama and sparkling grape juice party to ring in the new year. So, she was surprised when her water broke.
The surprise turned out to be a pleasant one since Emilia now shares a birthday with her paternal grandmother.
“She got to be in the newspaper and everything (back in Minnesota),” Catherine Furlin said. “So that was kind of a neat coincidence.”
“I bought this little onesie that says, ‘Happy New Year 2023,’ thinking I would hold it up in front of my belly for a picture. And now she's here to wear it. It’s neat, especially with the connection to his mom.”
Catherine was an hour away from Genesis East when her water broke, and Tony Furlin was at work an hour and a half away.
“It was sleeting, so the weather wasn’t great. But we made it safe and sound, and she decided to be a 2023 baby.”
“I was just trying to make good time without wreaking my truck,” added Tony, the food and beverage manager for 7 Hills Brewing.
Catherine wasn’t alone on the stressful drive to Davenport. Her sister, Lisa Eaton, a former Genesis labor and delivery nurse, was piloting the Subaru SUV, and their “nervous” mom was riding shotgun.
“We figured if it gets crazy, we have someone really qualified with us. That made me feel better,” she said with a chuckle.
The trip to the hospital offered a little bit of Deja Vu for the trio.
“I almost had my 17-year-old daughter on the side of the road, and Lisa was driving for that birth, so I think she had that in her head while driving.”
Sitting in her bed, cradling her newborn daughter, who bookends their oldest, with three brothers in the middle, Catherine beamed with joy.
“We feel blessed and so happy that she’s here. She came on her own time, and everything went smoothly. I can’t imagine a better way to start the year.”
