Proud new mother Bonny Adams holds her daughter, Amelia Joy, Dunedin's first baby of 2011. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Mrs Adams proudly cradled her daughter when the Otago Daily Times visited her at Queen Mary Maternity Cente at Dunedin Hospital on Saturday.
Amelia, weighing 3.4kg (7.5lbs), was not due to arrive for another week, but was induced on New Year's Eve because of an irregular heartbeat.
The labour was expected to take a lot longer than it did, Mrs Adams said.
''Things got going pretty quickly.''
Mrs Adams, a payments officer at the Ministry of Health, joked that her midwife urged her along in the labour with the goal of having the city's first baby.
Southland Hospital's New Year's Day baby was born at 3.47am, a spokeswoman said.
Other Otago hospitals reported no babies were born on Saturday.
