Seven-year-old Lydia Hagan holds her new baby brother, Blake Alan, born at 2:08 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 1, making him the Gazette's New Year's Baby of 2008. Blake weighed 8 lbs. 3.8 oz., and measured 201⁄2 inches long. Lydia, Blake, Alex and Cameron are the children of Dawn and Bruce Hagan Jr. of Culbertson. Bruce is a mechanic for Don Hagan and Sons Trucking of Culbertson; Dawn has been a stay-at-home mommy since July. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

At 9 o'clock New Year's Day, Dr. Mark Serbousek asked Bruce Hagan Jr. when his new baby was going to be born ... just how much longer would Dawn be in labor?

" ... won't be here until 2 o'clock," Bruce said. "Yep, two o'clock."

Dr. Serbousek was probably surprised by Bruce's certainty, and Dawn probably wasn't too thrilled with Bruce's prediction of five more hours of labor.

But, Bruce was right, and his new son's timing made him the Gazette's New Year's Baby of 2008.

The fourth child of (Ashley) Dawn and Bruce Hagan of Culbertson wasn't due until Jan. 5, but Dawn went into labor on Monday, New Year's Eve, and the couple went to Community Hospital of McCook at 10 p.m.

Blake Alan Hagan was born at 2:08 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 1, the first baby born in 2008 in the Gazette coverage area of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas.

What made Bruce so certain that his fourth baby would be born at two o'clock? Because his and Dawn's other three babies were born at two o'clock also: seven-year-old Lydia at 2:17 a.m.; four-year-old Alex at 2:12 p.m.; and two-year-old Cameron at 2:52 p.m.

Each baby is a holiday baby, Dawn said. Lydia was born Dec. 14, 2000, just before Christmas; Alex was born on Labor Day, 2003; and Cameron was born on Nov. 25, 2005, the day after Thanksgiving. And now Blake, on New Year's Day.

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Each baby was born at Community Hospital, Dawn said.

There is a marked difference, however, between Blake and his sister and brothers: Blake has dark hair, and lots of it. "These three," Dawn said, pointing at red-headed Lydia and blond-haired Alex and Cameron, "were clones of each other. Peach fuzz ... very little hair."

Blake has Dawn's dark locks. "And Alex's long feet," she chuckled, uncovering her new son's tiny pink toes and comparing them to Alex's feet -- missing one sock, unnoticed in a proud daddy's hustle to get three kids up and dressed and to the hospital to see their new baby brother Thursday morning.

Blake's grandparents are Dale and Cathy Dockery of Hayes Center and Susan and Bruce Hagan Sr. of Culbertson. His great-grandparents are Doris Ruppert and Bessie Wilcox of McCook and the late Don and Ruth Hagan Sr., Frances Lash and Claude Stanley.

Blake shares the honored New Year's Baby status with a distant cousin. Bruce's uncle, Don Hagan Jr., and his wife, Patricia, are the parents of the Gazette's New Year's Baby 1990. Adrianna Dawn is a high school senior now, Bruce said.

Other uncles and aunts and special relatives of Dawn and Bruce complete the circle of family and love that will surround the newest little Hagan.

As the Gazette's New Year's Baby of 2008, Blake will be awarded gift certificates from: the McCook Daily Gazette, Unique Boutique, Community Hospital of McCook, Eakes Office Plus, McCook National Bank, Phones Etc., Southwest Implement, Farrell's Pharmacy and Hallmark Shop, Tranquil Valley Spa (Tri Valley Health System), Runza and Big Mama's and Big Papa's and Mark's Pharmacy of Cambridge.