Miss Annabelle Rose Ellison was the first and only baby born at Good Samaritan Hospital on the first day of 2016. Her parents, Emma Coovert and Jeremy Ellison of New Carlisle, welcomed the baby into the world just before 10 o’clock on Friday morning.

“There weren’t many deliveries that day,” Coovert said of her daughter claiming the title of Good Samaritan’s 2016 New Year baby.

Annabelle was born at 9:39 a.m. by Cesarean Section after Coovert’s doctor scheduled the procedure.

Coovert said that Annabelle’s due date was originally January 4, but was later moved to January 1. “I thought she would have waited,” Coovert said of her daughter’s arrival.

Coovert and Ellison are set to make their union official in less than a week, with a wedding planned on January 12. The couple met online, and Coovert said that she was the one who essentially took the reins and told Ellison that she was going to marry him one day. She said she proposed to him on his birthday last February and he said yes. The couple will say their vows before a Clark County officiate, and they plan to hold a much grander ceremony next year on their one-year anniversary.

When asked how Annabelle’s holiday birthday would affect birthday parties in the future, Coovert said “She’ll just have her own special day until she gets older.”

Annabelle joins Coovert’s other children, Adien and Jerimiah, ages eight and nine. She is Ellison’s first child. Coovert said that she moved to New Carlisle one year ago to be with Ellison, who has lived in the city most of his life.

Coovert said that she and Ellison received a special surprise Friday at the hospital, as a representative from the Knights of Columbus showed up to visit, and gave the couple a $100 gift certificate to a baby-oriented retailer.

Perhaps it is only fitting that one of the region’s first New Year babies hails from a city with “New” in its name.