Lenoir County waits three days for first baby of 2012

It may have taken three days for Lenoir Memorial Hospital’s first baby of the year to be born, but for Angelina Mendoza Martinez, the birth of her third son, Mario, was nearly three weeks early.

On Wednesday, a little more than 24 hours after being delivered, the healthy 19 1/2 inches long and 7-pounds, 6-ounces baby boy laid bundled in blankets at Lenoir Memorial Hospital.

“I’m excited,” Martinez said, with the help of her best friend Melissa Bailey, who served as an interpreter for The Free Press. “They told me after he was born that it was the first baby born of 2012.”

Mario Godinez Mendoza was born on Jan. 3 at 10:06 a.m. — one of the latest New Year’s births at LMH in recent memory.

The child is Martinez’s fourth. Mario has two older brothers, 14 and 10, as well as a sister, who is nearly 2 years old. His sister, also named Angelina, visited her baby brother and her mother at the hospital Wednesday. She brought balloons and a Teddy bear for him.

Martinez said her 10-year-old son, Raoul, was really excited about being an older brother.

Wednesday afternoon was also the first time Mario’s father, also named Mario Godinez Mendoza, had seen his newborn son. A migrant worker, he was farming in Georgia when he found out his baby boy was coming early.

“I think he looks more like his mom,” Mendoza said. “I’ll get to spend a week with the family and then head back to work in Georgia.”

Martinez said she plans to return to her Moss Hill home tomorrow.

“I feel good,” she said. “But I’m still a little bit sleepy.”

Justin Hill can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jhill@freedomenc.com. Follow him on Twitter @mjhill.