For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, the honor of having the first baby of the new year born in San Francisco has gone to a mother who delivered at UCSF Children's Hospital. Six-pound, 13-ounce Elijah Rodolfo Bonilla-Hill came into the world at 2:13 a.m. on New Year's Day. Mother and child are doing well.
Little Elijah arrived three days before his due date of Jan. 4, deciding to ring in the new year with his parents, Cindy Bonilla, 33, and Eric Hill, 42, who live in the Sunset District. They said that their son must have wanted to be a New Year's baby.
"Just looking at him, it is so amazing to think that we created this little person. I think it's going to be an interesting trip," Bonilla said. "He wanted to be a New Year's baby. It's a great way to start the new year."
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Cindy Bonilla with Elijah Rodolfo Bonilla-Hill; Eric Hill by the window. Image/Susan Merrell |
According to longtime labor and delivery nurse Marit Taylor, RN, it is the first time in nearly a quarter of a century that the city's first baby of the new year has been born at UCSF.
Bonilla works as a nursery buyer at the Sloat Garden Center at 46th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard; Hill owns a landscaping business. Elijah is their first child. He is a third-generation San Franciscan, and is named for his great-grandfather Rodolfo, a fifth-generation San Franciscan.
In keeping with Elijah's heritage, one of his first birthday presents was a San Francisco Giants "onesie," a gift from an uncle.
According to published reports, Bonilla-Hill was not the first baby of the new year born in the Bay Area. That title goes to a 9-pound, 5-ounce baby boy born at exactly midnight at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara.
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