Honolulu’s first baby of 2015 comes early, surprising parents

Baby Jordan surprised his family by arriving a month early and making a grand entrance at precisely midnight New Year’s Day to become Honolulu’s first baby of 2015.

He also became the first son born to Aileen and Lowell Manuel, both 38, of Aiea, weighing in at 4 pounds, 6 ounces, and measuring 173⁄8 inches long.

The couple went to Aileen Manuel’s scheduled ultrasound at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at a Waikele clinic, where the doctor told her she needed to go to the emergency room because her blood pressure was high, Lowell Manuel recalled by telephone.

"They checked her, called the hospital and said, ‘You got to go straight to labor and delivery,’" he said Thursday. "It was really a surprise. From what they sorted out, they said, ‘You’re going to just have to deliver today.’"

After arriving at Kapiolani Medical Center, the doctor induced labor, and after more than a 12-hour wait, "the staff got really excited, joking, ‘Ooh, maybe the first New Year’s baby. We haven’t got it in the last couple years,’" Manuel said.

Dr. Angel Willey, covering for the mom’s regular obstetrician, checked her at 11:56 p.m. and said she was ready to go.

"They told her to push — and he’s out," Manuel said. "The staff was really excited, and it was fun."

He added, "Everything happened so fast. … What made it more exciting is there were more people in the room than usual."

Since Jordan was a pree­mie, with a due date of Feb. 7, a pediatrician and a team of nurses were standing by in the delivery room, in addition to the doctor and nurses delivering him, he said.

"It was really, really cool," Manuel said. "The doctor said that’s probably the most fun birth she’s been involved in."

The nurses presented the couple with a basket of goodies, including a tokidoki bag.

Jordan is doing fine, though he will have to remain in the neonatal intensive care unit until he puts on some weight.

"He’s breathing really strong," his dad said. "He was early, but he doesn’t look like a preemie baby."

The hospital staff is monitoring the mom’s blood pressure and she is doing well, but was too tired and a bit too groggy for an interview Thursday afternoon.

Aileen Manuel is a registered nurse with Kaiser Permanente, and Lowell Manuel is a production shop planner Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The Manuels, who were high school sweethearts, are the parents of two girls, Chloe, 14, and Phoebe, 7.

"Honestly, we weren’t planning on the last one," Lowell Manuel said. "We thought we were done with the two girls, and surprise! We got a boy.

"I was extremely happy, of course, a little bit relieved because we’ve had two girls," he said.

He confessed to having NBA hopes for his son "since I named him after Michael Jordan," adding, "Hopefully an NBA star, but maybe a point guard because he’s not going to be 6 feet tall."