The new year arrived with new beginnings for several families across the Lehigh Valley, as local hospitals celebrated the births of their first babies of 2026.
Isabella Mia Bourdier-Corneil became one of Jefferson Health’s earliest arrivals at 12:11 a.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township. The newborn, weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 21 inches long, was welcomed by parents Carissa Corneil and Victor Caraballo-Bourdier, of Zionsville.
At Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem, Priscilla Flores and Jason Olowoyo, of Bethlehem, celebrated the arrival of their daughter Elliana Tola Olowoyo at 12:42 a.m. Baby Elliana weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 17.5 inches long.
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St. Luke’s Hospital-Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township welcomed Ja’coby Asher Roberson at 1:11 a.m. as St. Luke’s University Health Network’s first baby of the year. The boy weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 21 inches long. His parents are Kobie Smith and Brian Roberson.
Baby Ja’coby Asher Roberson, photographed with mother Kobie Smith and father Brian Roberson, was the first baby of 2026 born in a St. Luke’s University Health Network hospital — at 1:11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, at the Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township.Courtesy St. Luke’s University Health Network