BOSTON – Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General) won a friendly competition among Boston’s hospitals, delivering the city’s first baby of 2025 just minutes after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Hospitals including Mass General, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, and Tufts Medical Center stayed in contact throughout the evening to determine which facility would welcome the city’s first newborn of the year.
Boston’s First Baby
At 12:14 a.m., baby Leah James Lombardi was born to Jessica and Michael Lombardi of Saugus at Mass General. Leah, the couple’s second child, arrived after just nine minutes of labor, weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long. Both mother and baby are in good health, the hospital confirmed.
“I feel great; it was such an easy delivery,” Jessica said.
The couple is excited to have their baby be a part of Boston’s tradition.
“I was excited,” Jessica said. “We heard cheering in the hallway, and then our nurse came running in and said, ‘Leah’s the first baby born in the whole city.’”
“It’s bragging rights,” Michael added.
A Historic Birth
This marked the first time since 2015 that Mass General welcomed Boston’s first baby of the year.
“We’re glad to break the streak,” Michael said.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital had been the center of attention in recent years. In 2024, the race for Boston’s first baby was too close to call. Three baby girls were born at the stroke of midnight, one at Brigham and Women’s and two at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Brigham and Women’s claimed the honor in 2023, delivering a baby boy at 12:07 a.m. The hospital also delivered Boston’s first baby of 2022, a girl born at 12:05 a.m.
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