SALISBURY — Arriving on her due date of Jan. 2, Aurora Sol Mowery, became the first baby of the new year to be born at Novant Health Rowan Medical Center in Salisbury.

She is the first child of Josh and Sisy Mowery of Salisbury and while they expected her to come a little early and arrive in December, Sisy “it was just meant to be for her to come in January” and Josh said, “she came right on time.”

No matter the date she arrived, mom said, “she’s a special baby, to us anyway.”

And her name has a special meaning as Sisy said Aurora is her great-grandmother’s name. Her great-grandmother died a while ago, and when her grandmother heard the name, “she was just overwhelmed that her mom was being honored that way. Sisy said her grandmother was actually here visiting from Mexico.

And her middle name, Sol, is Spanish, which means sun, she said.

“Aurora also means dawn, it kind of goes together,” said Josh,” telling that they wanted to “honor her heritage as well with some type of Hispanic name.”

As dad proudly held baby Aurora, mom told, with emotion in her voice, that she had prayed for a long time for this little one to enter their lives.

“When I first found out I was pregnant, it was just so amazing and I didn’t think I could have a better feeling until when we heard her cry,” Sisy said, “and I was just in shock that we actually created a human together and she was ours. God blessed us with such a beautiful baby.”

The couple arrived at the hospital around 5 a.m. on Jan. 1, and Sisy was in labor the whole day until the decision was made to have a C-section.

Wanting to have a regular delivery, Sisy said the C-section wasn’t planned and some complications turned the delivery into a C-section with Aurora being born at 1:40 a.m. on Jan. 2, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches in length.

“The doctor explained it very well,” said Josh, telling things that could happen and why their doctor suggested what she did. “It made sense to go with the C-section.”

The couple praised the doctors and staff saying they were amazing, including Dr. Blumenthal, Dr. Walters, midwife Sharon Varner and nurse Brianna Dean.

Dean was Sisy’s nurse during her labor and was with her all day long from the beginning of her shift at 6:30 a.m. until she left at 7 or 7:30 p.m., Dean said. However, she didn’t get to see baby Aurora until the next day.

“It’s always so rewarding when you labor with a patient all day and then you get to meet the new life that you helped bring into the world,” said Dean. “I love what I do, and I love helping mamas. I really enjoy it. I love working here.”

And Sisy was thankful for Dean, who she said was “great from the moment we stepped in” sharing that she was in pain and scared, but Dean helped ease her and held her hand and was amazing.

“The family is so excited to meet her,” said Josh, and on the afternoon of Jan. 2, two of the grandparents, Josh’s dad, Mark Mowery, and Sisy’s mom, Maribel Soto, were on their way to meet her. 

Josh said that his mom, Christine Mowery, who lives in town, was there all night and got to meet her then and Sisy said her dad, Juan Soria had been there earlier that day and saw her as well.

“This is their first grandchild,” Sisy said of her parents, “so he’s over the moon, just excited. He said she’s the most beautiful baby he’s ever seen.”

Jennifer Payne, nurse manager of women’s services, said there were several other families at the hospital; however, with Sisy being in labor all day, they thought she would be the one having the hospital’s first baby of the year.

The family was presented with a special basket of some items for Aurora from Smart Start Rowan as they partner with the hospital to honor the baby.

Denise Heinke, director of outreach and development, said this was her third year doing this for the new year baby at the hospital and it’s something she loves doing. Each year the basket has a different theme, and this year was Winnie the Pooh, thinking it would be a cute one.

Because they don’t know what the baby will be, they keep the items gender neutral, she said, but they “try to make sure that there’s something applicable.” 

Included in the basket are fun items and essentials, plus “all the resources that they will potentially need for our birth to age five group,” said Heinke.

Sisy and Josh shared how blessed they are to receive these items, something she said was unexpected.

Getting these things is “one less thing to think about,” for them and the items are “coming from experience, things you don’t think about, they can provide insight in,” said Josh. 

Smart Start Rowan has been partnering with the Novant Rowan Medical Center for 21 years providing these special baskets for the hospital’s first baby of the year.

Amy Brown, Smart Start’s executive director said they also try to include something for mom in the basket and this year’s special something was Bath and Body Works items. Plus, she said, “the Trophy House always graciously donates a plaque that they can go and have the baby’s name engraved.”

Payne said she has been in her role at the hospital for 10 years and Smart Start has been partnering with them all that time, and they always know they will have a great basket for the babies.

She noted that Novant also contributed a basket for the family, which she presented to them earlier in the day. In past years, Novant has done different things for the families, said Payne.

Being able to share these items and resources has a special meaning to those involved as Payne said that she loves what she does and “it’s great to be able to go above and beyond like today and have this beautiful basket.”

She also told how Smart Start Rowan provides other beneficial items for the patients including car seats for moms in need. And when they run low, she knows she can just give them a call and they respond.

Lorie Aldridge, a member of the Smart Start board, said they have lots of duties and roles and “wonderful events that we all get to participate in, and I feel like this is one that we just get really excited and anticipate being able to see the New Year’s baby.”

Brown said that for her, it was the tradition.

“The traditional collaboration and what we do every year,” she said.

Brown mentioned that the board members look for the announcement of this gift to the new baby, telling that “it’s something that folks get really excited about.”

The collaboration is something that Heinke said she also loves, and it’s exciting knowing there’s a new life coming to Rowan County and they are grateful to be a resource for these families and they are maybe providing something in the baskets that the family hadn’t thought about.

“It’s just a really wonderful thing to share together, and Novant’s been great,” said Heinke. “It’s a true blessing to do.”