Area’s first baby of ’07 born

NEWPORT BEACH — The new year started Monday with a series of amazing revelations: the sunlight flooding through the window and the soothing touch of warm water and a loving embrace.

At least, they were revelations to Timothy Dane Morris, who entered the world at 7:55 a.m. at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and became Newport-Mesa’s first baby of 2007.

As a football game played silently on the television and Newport Boulevard glowed outside in the morning light, Timothy’s parents — Timothy Richard and Ami Marie Morris of Costa Mesa — started the new year by cradling their first child. A few hours after his birth, he was still on the quiet side and hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but the moment was overwhelming enough.

“It was awesome,” said Timothy, 36, a car salesman. “It was way bigger than what I expected. It floored me when he came out and I saw how beautiful he was.”

The hospital had a few other women in labor on Monday, but the Morrises finished first — and practically at the last minute. On New Year’s Eve, the couple had been watching the Will Smith movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” in the theater when Ami, a teacher in the Orange Unified School District, began having contractions. The movie, fittingly, tells the story of a father who struggles to do what’s best for his son.

The couple arrived at Hoag at 2 a.m., and a few hours later the newest leaf on the Morris family tree — all eight pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches of him — arrived with minimal trouble. His first name derived from family tradition, but his parents had already settled on a different form of address.

“My dad is Timothy and my husband is Timothy, so he’s also Timothy, but he’ll go by Dane,” said Ami, 32.

Swaddled in his mother’s arms, Timothy — or Dane — already sported his first colorful bit of clothing. Faith Holcombe, the mother of an anesthesiologist at Hoag, had knitted a tiny Santa hat for the first baby born at the hospital on New Year’s Day.

A few hours earlier, nurse Shirlee Settipane had given him his first bath. For Settipane, who has worked at Hoag for nine years, the day marked a first as well.

“This is my first New Year’s baby, and I’m really excited,” she said.

On Tuesday evening, the Morrises planned to carry their bundle of joy home. For the moment, they enjoyed a few quiet hours before the many sleepless nights ahead.

“He looks like a stuffed animal,” Ami said, caressing her baby’s face as it peeked out under the red cap.

“He looks like a mound of ice cream with a cherry on top,” countered her husband.