Luther Hospital celebrated the new year with three babies born New Year’s morning. The first two came just minutes after the calendars changed to 2007.

The clock struck midnight and 10 minutes later, Xander Wesley James Hodgson was born. His timing was good, but he was nowhere near on time- Xander wasn't due until January 21. After 20 hours of labor on mom's part, he barely qualified as Eau Claire’s first baby of 2007.

“One of the girls down the hall, she was only like 4 minutes after he was born,” Xander’s mother Penny Gauthier says.

Xander weighs 5 lbs. 6 oz., and he's 17 1/2 inches long. He slept peacefully for most of the morning as mom, grandma, and great-grandma passed him around.

“It's my second (grandchild)- I have one in Colorado that's a year and a half old, but I’ve never seen him,” Xander’s great grandmother, Kathy Hodgson says. “So this one here is pretty neat. I get to hold this one.”

Gauthier says she does remember the clock hitting midnight at New Year’s, but soon after that, she was holding her newborn son and she forgot all about the time.

“There's nothing more precious than holding a brand-new life…and I’ve been waiting so patiently for him for the last nine months,” Gauthier says. “He's the perfect New Year's gift.”

Xander will get a $50 savings bond from Luther Hospital for being the first baby born there this year. He adds to a growing U.S. population of more than 300 million people, which marks one birth every eight seconds.