Downing, 21, and LeSage, 31, arrived at the hospital around 9 on New Year's Eve and Harley, weighing in at 7 pounds and 7ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long, was delivered at 5:55 a.m. He was initially due on Jan. 15 but Downing entered pre-term labor at the end of November.

 

Harley and his family have been visited by numerous relatives already. 

 

"My grandma wouldn't give up the baby," Downing said, while holding her newborn, who was sporting a New York Giants hat.

 

Downing's family have had a couple days of excitement. On New Year's Eve, her cousin Nicki 

Vitro-Fischer also gave birth, but in New Jersey.

 

Downing was raised in North Adams but she and LeSage live in his hometown of Adams. 

 

Natale and Antonio LeSage playfully greeted their brother with opposite attitudes.

 

When asked if they were excited, Antonio exclaimed, "No!" while Natale energetically jumped up and dow, letting out a resounding "Yes!"

 

Paul Hopkins, the director of community relations for Northern Berkshire Healthcare, said the hospital delivers roughly 300 babies a year. He said although most years a New Year's baby is born, it's not guaranteed.

 

"It is not at all unheard of going a day or two into the New Year without a baby," Hopkins said. The 2012 baby in North County missed New Year's by four minutes.

 

The larger Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield often claims the honor of delivering the county's New Year's baby, as it did this year. The Berkshire Eagle reports Kaylyn Rose Cormier, daughter of Travis Cormier and Kelsey Lehtinen, both of Peru, was born at 1:11 a.m. Kaylyn weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces and is 21 inches long. Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington also delivered an infant at 5:57 a.m. — two minutes after Harley.