First baby of 2024 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital follows a family tradition

ELLIOT JAMES KRASON

ELLIOT JAMES KRASON

Easthampton couple Christopher Krason and Sarah Boyle hold their new son Elliot on Monday. Elliot, born at 5:14 a.m., now shares the same birthday as his twin aunts.

Easthampton couple Christopher Krason and Sarah Boyle hold their new son Elliot on Monday. Elliot, born at 5:14 a.m., now shares the same birthday as his twin aunts. Contributed/Christopher Krason

By EMILEE KLEIN

Staff Writer

Published: 01-03-2024 2:19 PM

Modified: 01-03-2024 6:28 PM


NORTHAMPTON — Elliot James Krason might be the first 2024 baby born in Cooley Dickinson Hospital, but he’s not his family’s first New Year’s Day baby.

Elliot’s twin aunts, Abigail and Jessica Krason, were born on New Year’s Day 35 years ago at 10:13 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., becoming the first babies in Littleton, Mass., in 1989. Elliot’s grandmother, Mary Jo Krason, said two of her first cousins were also born on the first day of the year.

In fact, holiday births run in the family. Krasons have birthdays on Veteran’s Day, President’s Day and April Fool’s Day.

Newborn Elliot inherited his family’s rare birth dates when he entered the world at 5:14 a.m. on Jan. 1. He weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces.

“It’s nice to start the new year with new life and new beginnings,” father Christopher Micheal Krason said.

Mother Sarah Jeanne Boyle said her water broke at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 30, but she didn’t know she was in labor until 24 hours later when she started feeling contractions. The baby was expected during the second week of January and took the new parents by surprise.

“Usually labor starts before you feel contractions and then your water breaks, but it rarely can happen the other way around, and it happened the other way around for him,” Boyle said.

After rushing to the hosptial from Easthampton, it took Boyle 24 hours of additional labor and four hours of pushing to bring baby Elliot into the world.

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“You know you’re gonna fall in love, but you don’t realize how much until the second you see them. The second they put him on your chest, that’s just it,” she said.

Elliot is the first grandchild on both sides of his family. Krason first suggested the name Elliot two months ago, but Boyle said the parents waited to meet their son before deciding on his name. Boyle, however, knew her son’s middle name would come from her grandfather James Boyle.

To add to their luck, many Krason family birthdays also contain numerical patterns. Besides Elliot and his aunts born on Jan 1, Christopher Krason came into the world on Feb. 22 and his father Michael Krason was born on March 3.

“He had to get that pattern [and] fall in with the rest of the family,” Boyle said.

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.