By Jeanne Sager
HARRIS — January 4, 2002 – It may not have been the type of celebration they expected to have for the new year, but Monday night Noemi Agosto and Jason Watkins realized they weren’t just welcoming in 2002 – they were welcoming a new baby to their family.
The Monticello couple planned to spend their New Year’s Eve like many in the past, they said, but when Agosto’s contractions started, they knew their second child, Marcus Watkins, was on the way.
Watkins arrived the next day at 3:15 p.m. in the maternity ward of Catskill Regional Medical Center – the first baby born in 2002 in Sullivan County.
The healthy baby weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 inches long.
But it wasn’t until after her labor that Agosto had a chance to think about the significance of her baby’s birthday.
“I didn’t think about the fact that this was a New Year’s baby until after I had him,” Agosto laughed, “but to me, it didn’t really make a difference.”
The couple are just glad to be receiving attention for something so positive in their lives.
“We have never really received much attention,” Agosto stated.
“And we’d like to keep it that way,” Jason Watkins said with a grin, “but it’s nice to get attention for our child.”
So far their New Year’s baby is doing fine – healthy and very well behaved.
“He hasn’t cried once,” Agosto said. “He’s been very, very quiet.”
“He’s a good baby, just like this one here,” Watkins added, reaching out for daughter Bianca, an adorable 2 1/2-year-old who seemed thrilled to have a new baby brother.
The two seem to be getting along well already, Agosto said.
But the real test of sibling rivalry will be returning home from the hospital and getting things back to normal.
Watkins will return to his job at Cloverleaf Trucking in Chester, but Agosto said he will still be a big help with the baby.
And she will have her mother, Sonia Agosto of Monticello, on hand at home to help.
“I’m just looking forward to getting out of the hospital,” she said Wednesday.
Also waiting at home are proud grandparents Derek Torres and Tanja Maddux, Agosto’s father Pedro, a Monticello firefighter, and great-grandmothers Jackie Torres and Juliette Jordan.