BRIANNA and Will O'Brien's son was a welcome surprise when he arrived within minutes of the new year, four days ahead of schedule.
Angus Robert O'Brien was in the breech position and scheduled to be delivered by Caesarean-section on January 4.
Instead he arrived at "easy to remember" 12.21am on January 1, 2021, weighing 2.9 kilograms and measuring 48 centimetres.
He is the O'Brien's first child, the first grandchild on both sides of his family, plus is believed to be the first Hunter baby born this year.
"We're a little bit shell shocked, he was a big surprise," Mrs O'Brien, 30, said.
"We're pretty stoked and very happy... he was very much wanted, that's for sure."
She said Angus had been very calm and quiet and soothed easily with feeding.
"I think I'm running on adrenaline now that I've got a baby in my arms," she said.
"He slept for a good five hours so I managed to get a bit of sleep, apart from waking up every single second he made a sound."
Mr O'Brien, 37, said becoming parents felt "pretty amazing".
"He makes it official, we're a little family," he said.
"He gets the year off to a new start for us."
Their son, he said, had his mother's nose and father's head.
Mrs O'Brien said the couple aimed to be supportive parents and their only hopes for Angus were that he is happy and healthy.
"That's all you can ask," she said. "That he gets to be whatever he wants to be, we don't want to put too many expectations on him."
Mr O'Brien, a chef, was on his way home from a double shift when Mrs O'Brien's waters broke around 9pm.
The New Lambton Heights couple said they were happy Angus waited a bit over three hours until the new year to arrive.
"We thought '2020, it's done, 2021 will fingers crossed be a better year'," she said.
Mr O'Brien saw his work hours cut to two days a week at the start of lockdown, while Mrs O'Brien working from home meant none of her colleagues knew she was pregnant until she was 20 weeks along.
"It gave us more time to be organised, but there were a lot of things out of stock, like prams, so we had to be more organised," she said.
"It was a bit of a different experience.
"A lot of the parenting classes we did online or in masks."
The clock struck midnight as Mrs O'Brien received medication to make her numb - "I had to drink a saline solution and we were joking it was my New Year's Eve shot" - while needle-averse Mr O'Brien caught the start of the fireworks on tv in the pre-operative area.
They said they liked Angus' January 1 birthday.
"There's always going to be fireworks, which will be exciting for him," she said.
"He'll never have to go to school on his birthday and probably won't have to work, that's always a bit of a plus.
"Families are always around that time of year, so it's easy to get everyone together."
Hunter New England Local Health District executive director of clinical services nursing and midwifery Elizabeth Grist said the district was "very excited" to welcome one of the state's first babies of 2021.
"Last year was a tough year for all with the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, so we are pleased we can share some good news at the start of 2021," Ms Grist said.
