FARGO -- If Decker Tobkin was looking for an early start on his 15 minutes of fame, he got the timing right.
After 20 hours of labor, the 8-pound, 6-ounce son of Kelsey and Tanner Tobkin came into the world at 1:19 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 1, at Sanford Medical Center in south Fargo to become Fargo-Moorhead’s first baby of the New Year.
“He purposely waited until 2022,” Kelsey joked, adding she’ll remind Decker of the work she put into getting him across the finish line. “He will be hearing about it for years.”
Tanner said the prospect of having a New Year’s baby “was a running joke from the day we knew the birthdate was New Year’s Eve. … And then I thought, ‘What if we were the first baby in 2022?’ Lo and behold, here we are.”
“It’s going to be a fun birthday to celebrate moving forward,” Kelsey said.
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The birthing center room was crowded with TV cameras, reporters and a photographer, but Decker serenely slept through it all, his parents marveling at the shock of hair on their first baby’s head.
He has been a happy baby, “so far,” his mother said.
“As long as he’s swaddled up like this” he’s quiet, Tanner added.
The Moorhead couple know of no other New Year’s babies in either of their families.
Ironically, the 28-year-olds hold an annual New Year’s party for friends.
“Now we can hold the party from here on out,” Kelsey said.
Labor started about 4 a.m. New Year’s Eve, and ended about 1 a.m. New Years Day, Kelsey said. “It was quite the day. He really wanted to wait until 2022.”
Kelsey said she’d probably be in the hospital until Monday.
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Essentia Health in Fargo also had a baby born on New Year's Day, but further information was unavailable, a hospital spokesman said.
Both of the Tobkins work from home.
Kelsey trains new hires for WEX, so Decker “is going to be a genius on HSAs (Health Savings Accounts)” she quipped.
Tanner is a credit analyst for Great Western Bank.
Neither expected to be in the media spotlight to start the year.
“It is different. I did not expect this … but kind of fun,” Kelsey said.
“He’s being pretty good right now,” Tanner added.
“We got lucky,” she said.
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But they don’t plan to push their luck.
Neither a Christmas or another New Year’s baby are in the plans to close 2022 or open 2023.
“Maybe we’ll go 2024,” Kelsey said.
