close

Cape Coral’s first New Year’s baby arrives at 4:43 p.m.

2 min read

The 2014 New Year’s baby in the city of Cape Coral was welcomed into the world Wednesday.

Kaelyna Rife was born at 4:43 p.m. at the Cape Coral Hospital to Cape resident Heather Rife and Ryan Diaz, of Lehigh Acres. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and measured 19.5 inches, her family reported.

“We’re very excited, very blessed,” Rife said Thursday. “Just happy and filled with joy.”

Kaelyna is the second child for both Rife and Diaz. Rife already has a 5-year-old son named Isaiah Rife, and Diaz already has a 12-year-old daughter named Jalissia Diaz.

“I have no words to explain the feeling of having her,” Diaz said of his newborn daughter.

“She’s a blessing to my life,” he said Thursday. “Right now, it’s just priceless.”

Diaz is an electrician for a company in Bonita Springs, and Rife works in order entry in Fort Myers.

“I’m in estimating,” Rife said, adding that she has been with the company for nearly a year.

Diaz explained that they knew it was going to be a girl at about six months.

“Before we know what it was, I was hoping it was a boy,” he said. “But now that she’s here, I have no regrets.”

“Whether it’s a girl or a boy, I love kids,” Diaz added. “I’m OK with having another girl.”

Asked about Kaelyna’s name, Rife said they had been “just kind of messing around with names.”

“It just happened,” she said.

Rife’s original due date was anticipated for Jan. 7.

“So she came about a week early,” she said.

Rife was in labor for almost 10 hours.

“She actually handled herself pretty good,” Diaz said of Rife. “She did a really good job.”

He noted that Kaelyna instinctively repositioned herself for delivery.

“She wanted to come out,” Diaz said. “Everything went really smoothly.”

On Thursday, Rife was expected to be hospitalized one more day.

Diaz explained that they were happy to learn Kaelyna was the Cape’s 2014 New Year’s baby.

“It was very exciting to know that she had that opportunity to have that title,” he said. “We’re excited that every year, not only will we be celebrating her birthday, but the whole city will.”

Diaz added that all the visiting hospital staffers immediately know who their daughter is.

“We’re just really happy to have that title,” he said.

Asked about her newborn, Rife called her a quiet baby.

“She’s a perfect baby,” she said.