Scott Swanson
Megan Elizabeth Miser was supposed to arrive Jan. 8, but she arrived early – on New Year’s Day, in fact.
Megan was Sweet Home’s first baby of 2015, born at 11:15 p.m. on Jan. 1 at Lebanon Samaritan Community Hospital after her mom, Tina Ensley was induced about a month early for medical reasons.
Ensley, 32, said she had gestational diabetes and she wanted to get things rolling as soon as she hit 39 weeks, which was the cutoff for inducing labor.
Megan arrived weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 inches long, with dark hair and eyes “somewhere between blue and hazel,” according to her mother. She also has a healthy set of lungs, particularly during bath time.
“She can scream,” Ensley said.
She said Dr. Alan Blake, who delivered Megan, asked hospital staff whether Megan was the first of the year for the hospital, but another baby had been delivered earlier in the day to an Albany couple.
She was No. 1 for her dad, Nathan Miser, 39.
“It’s been six years since I took care of a baby,” he said, clearly enjoying the deja vu experience as he held Megan in their home in Foster. “A lot of stuff comes back.”
Ensley’s two boys, Weston, 8, and Levi, 6, live with them and Miser’s daughter Lillian, 6, lives with her mother in Sweet Home.
Weston, they said, has been really excited about the new arrival, while the younger two are still getting used to the idea that they have a new sister.
Miser, who works for University Fencing in Albany, said his boss – whose family also has a baby on the way – gave him some time off “to get situated.”
“He was excited,” Miser said.
Ensley works as a caregiver through the Senior and Disability Services. She said one of her clients has been calling to check on the baby’s progress.
“We’ll have to go see her sometime,” she said.