SALEM — Lynn’s Mayra Bamaca-Esteban gave birth to Salem’s first baby of 2023 at Salem Hospital’s Birthplace.
Mathew Bamaca — a baby boy weighing six pounds, 14 ounces and measuring 19 inches long — was born at 10:17 a.m. Sunday. While three other babies were born at Birthplace on New Year’s Day, Bamaca came out the fastest and was named the first birth of the year in Salem, and possibly the North Shore.
“We used to have friendly competitions with all the North Shore hospitals. We used to all call each other to see who had the first baby. I actually said if Beverly hospital had the first or if we had the first,” said Salem Hospital’s Director of Birthplace Lisa Cavallaro.
Salem Hospital awarded Bamaca and his mother a mobile, along with a Target gift card, diapers, wipes, outfits and a baby bag. Bamaca-Esteban, now a mother of three, said that her family was ecstatic when the nurses told her she had given birth to the city’s first baby of 2023.
“My mother was with me and she was really excited. My daughter was really excited too,” Bamaca-Esteban said.
Cavallaro said that although Birthplace delivers thousands of babies each year, there’s always something exciting about the first birth of the year.
“We deliver approximately 1,300 babies a year, and every birth is special, but New Year’s births are always special … It’s always exciting, and as the director of the unit, you know, we get a gift for the first baby,” Cavallaro said. “I met with Mom this morning. And she was very, very overjoyed and very elated that she had just had her third baby with us. She introduced me to Mathew, and he was an adorable little baby.”
Bamaca-Esteban said that she had a smooth, fast delivery, and that Bamaca was born healthy.
“I just want to say thanks to my family and thanks to God that everything went fine and that the baby’s healthy,” Bamaca-Esteban said. “I want my family to know that I am really grateful to them for being there with me.”
