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The Philadelphia area’s first baby of 2026 was born at the stroke of midnight

Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, Temple Health, Main Line Health, and Virtua Health all welcomed babies in the first hour of 2026.

Sarah and Ryan Schamp of Ambler with their son Henry, who was born at midnight Jan. 1, 2026, at Penn Medicine Doylestown Hospital.
Sarah and Ryan Schamp of Ambler with their son Henry, who was born at midnight Jan. 1, 2026, at Penn Medicine Doylestown Hospital.Read moreCourtesy of Penn Medicine

Henry Schamp came into the world with a bang.

The Philadelphia area’s first baby of 2026 was born at the stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve at Penn Medicine Doylestown Hospital, while fireworks lit up the sky outside their window.

Parents Sarah and Ryan Schamp of Ambler described the moment as “surreal” and “picture perfect.”

“I thought everyone was joking,” Sarah Schamp said of the perfectly timed fireworks display that was visible from their room moments after Henry’s birth.

The family expects to return home later Friday, where they will be greeted by the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Willow, and 5-year-old Australian shepherd, Winston.

Willow is already embracing her duties as a big sister, piling blankets on him and showing him pictures in her books during visits to the hospital, which was acquired by Penn Medicine in 2025. Henry’s hospital bassinet is lined with Polaroid snapshots of her.

Henry was one of several babies born at Philadelphia-area hospitals in the first hour of the new year:

  1. Temple Women & Families Hospital, the North Philadelphia facility where Temple moved its labor and delivery services in September, celebrated its first baby of the year at 12:10 a.m. — a boy, Ezekiel Hall, born to Natalie Rivera.

  2. Elliott Sarnoff was born to parents Kim and Jason Sarnoff at Lankenau Medical Center at 12:22 a.m.

  3. Virtua Voorhees Hospital’s first baby of the year was a boy named Landon, born at 12:29 a.m. to parents Caitlyn and Mark. Virtua declined to provide surnames to protect patient privacy.

  4. Lindsay and Matthew Logan of Chalfont welcomed baby Dawson Logan at Jefferson Abington Hospital at 1:01 a.m.

While Henry was born on his due date, the Schamps expected him to arrive early, after Sarah started having contractions on Dec. 30 and the couple headed to the hospital.

“It wasn’t what we planned, but it’s a cool thing and will be a fun tradition,” Sarah Schamp said.

Plus, they joked, he’ll have a fun fact for breaking the ice with new friends and co-workers for the rest of his life.