The Brief
- Multiple Tampa Bay area families had more than just a new year to celebrate.
- Bay Area hospitals have reported the first babies born in their care in 2026.
TAMPA, Fla. – As New Year’s celebrations were underway, multiple Tampa Bay area families welcomed their babies — some of the first to be born locally in 2026.
Here are some of the bundles of joy welcomed first at Bay Area hospitals:
Meet Baby Irish
AdventHealth Heart of Florida in Haines City helped welcome Irish Jeyliani Escobar, marking its first baby born in the new year. She was born exactly at midnight on January 1, 2026!
Baby Irish weighed six pounds, two ounces and measured 19 inches long when she was born, according to hospital officials.
Her overjoyed parents, Jenny and Oscar Escobar, shared how thankful they were to their care team at AdventHealth, especially their nurse, Marie, for her compassionate and attentive care during delivery.
Meet Baby ‘Zaz’
Sarasota Memorial Hospital welcomed it’s first baby of the new year at its Venice campus at 12:50 a.m. on January 1, 2026. …