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Brooklyn couples celebrate NYC’s first 2019 babies

January 2, 2019 By Jaime DeJesus Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Jennifer and Jonathan Bernstein with their newborn son Joseph, the first baby born at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in 2019. Photos courtesy of Jonathan Bernstein
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It was an especially happy new year for several Brooklyn couples as they welcomed their newborns into the world.

New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital welcomed its first baby of the new year, Joseph Patrick Bernstein, at 12:44 a.m. on Jan. 1. Joseph weighed in at seven pounds, three ounces; he is 20 inches long.

His parents, Jennifer and Jonathan Bernstein, are from Bensonhurst.

Jonathan, a first-time father and Xaverian High School alum, was thrilled to welcome his son into the world.

“We were the first couple to have a baby at Methodist Hospital in 2019,” he said.  “The whole experience is amazing and words can’t describe the joy and emotion you feel. There’s no better way to start the New Year than adding the newest member of the Bernstein family. Every birthday [Dec. 31] Joseph is going to be told that the countdown is a countdown for his birthday rather than the New Year.”

At NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, the first baby of 2019 arrived at 1:40 a.m., as new mom Brucha Teitelbaum and father Yisroel Avrum Teitelbaum, both of Williamsburg, welcomed a baby boy. The newborn weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces, and was 21 1/4 inches long.

The first mother to give birth in the city was Brooklyn resident Nexhmije Balanca, who delivered at 30 seconds after midnight at Staten Island University Hospital. She and husband Rinush welcomed a son, Dion Karpuzi. The baby weighs 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

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