New year debut
Kristyn Neuhofer may live in Punta Gorda, but when it came time for her to deliver her third child, she went to the same place where she had the other two: Cape Coral Hospital.
Only this one was different. When she gave birth to Lyle at 12:52 p.m. on New Year’s Day, he went in the books as the first baby born in Cape Coral for 2016.
Neuhofer said she had heard that Cape Coral Hospital was the best, so she decided to go to the best rather than head toward the Peace River and Fawcett. Besides, the family lives in the southern part of town, making the Cape Coral trip more like six of one and a half-dozen of the other.
Neuhofer said Lyle wasn’t ready to come out on his Dec. 26 due date and they were about ready to induce birth on Monday when Lyle decided to come.
“We woke up New Year’s Day and I was in labor, so we went to the hospital,” Kristyn said. “It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. We had New Year’s dinner and watched the ball drop and went to bed at midnight O.K. I woke up at 6 a.m. in a lot of pain.”
Lyle, whose birth was quick and easy, Kristyn said, was more interested in getting his sleep than being in the newspaper and let everyone know it.
His big brothers, Jesse, 10, and Klayton, 8, had no trouble expressing how cool it will be to have a little brother to pal around with.
“They love their little brother so much, they don’t want to leave here,” Neuhofer said, who left the hospital Sunday morning.
“He’s awesome. I want him to be a baseball player. I want to teach him to throw a ball and ride a bike and how to swim,” Jesse said.
“I’m going to teach him to ride a scooter,” Klayton said.
The first baby born in Lee County was Isebella Albequerque at HealthPark at 12:46 a.m. Last year, 6,914 babies were born systemwide in Lee County, according to Pat Dolce, public affairs specialist with Lee Memorial Health System.