Cayuga Medical Center Welcomes New Year’s Day Baby

New mother with headscarf lovingly holds her newborn baby, wearing a flower hat, in a hospital bed.
A new mother cradles her newborn, the first baby born in the new year at Cayuga Medical Center.

Cayuga Medical Center’s first baby of the New Year has been born, just hours after its start.

Khizar and Wajeeha Mairaj of Ithaca, welcomed their second child, Arfa Khizar, on January 1 at 3:28 p.m. She weighed 7.6 pounds and measured 19 inches long. Despite the baby’s initial due date of January 2nd, Wajeeha says they were excited to welcome baby Arfa early.

“I had wished that I would deliver her on the first. [I am] feeling blessed and happy,” stated Wajeeha.

She also praised her nurses, Sunny and Heather, as well as her doctor, Kenneth Dean, DO for their kindness and compassionate care at the Cayuga Birthplace.

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