Santa Rosa couple welcomes Sonoma County's first baby of 2018

Within the first hour of the new year, Angelo Kristofer Iniguez Cardenas made his grand entrance as Sonoma County’s first baby of 2018.

It was the first of many firsts for the baby boy, born Monday at 12:54 a.m. at Santa Rosa’s Kaiser Permanente. He was the firstborn for Santa Rosa couple Brittany Cardenas and Rigoberto Iniguez, as well as the first grandchild and great-grandchild on the mom’s side of the family.

“He’s just adorable,” the baby’s great-grandmother, Jacqueline Buhrman, 79, said as she watched her granddaughter cradle the newborn - all 7-pounds, 11-ounces of him wrapped snugly in a hospital blanket.

“I was hoping he’d be born on New Year’s,” said Buhrman, who lives in Santa Rosa. “I was hoping he’d be the first one.”

Although she was scheduled to be induced Jan. 3, Cardenas, 21, had a hunch her son, who measured 20½ inches long, would arrive New Year’s Day. So did her mother, Pam Fountain.

“Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come,” said Fountain, 53, of Santa Rosa.

Cardenas went in for a contraction stress test and to check her glucose level Thursday, and after finding her blood sugar level high, the doctor bumped up the labor inducement to Saturday.

The labor wasn’t without challenge. Cardenas for a moment feared she’d need an emergency cesarean section after the baby rotated and his heart rate dropped. In the end, she was able to give birth naturally.

While the labor was long, the delivery went quick. It took 30 minutes, Cardenas said.

“I’m glad he’s healthy,” she said about her son.

“It’s a new start, a new life,” Cardenas said. “We’re going to work hard to give him everything we can.”

Cardenas said she wasn’t the only one in maternity ward that morning. Another woman was in labor around the same time. The second baby arrived at 1:40 a.m.

“There’s no words,” Iniguez said about being a dad for the first time. “I’m speechless.”

The baby followed his voice, looking up at his dad with dark eyes wide open. The baby already appeared to have his father’s dimples, said family members, who surrounded the young couple as Miss Sonoma County Kristina Schmuhl and Miss Sonoma County Outstanding Teen Emily Wong visited Monday afternoon. They delivered diapers and a basket filled with other essentials and goodies, part of a county tradition.

Johnny Cardenas, 45, beamed as he looked at his grandchild. The Santa Rosa man recalled the day his daughter and her twin brother, Brandon, were born.

“She was little - 4 pounds, 8 ounces,” he said.

Bill Buhrman, 74, said he hadn’t held a newborn since the birth of his grandchildren, Brittany and Brandon Cardenas. That changed on Monday, when he nestled his great-grandchild in his arms.

“It’s been a while,” Buhrman said. “The last time was 21 years ago.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.