Eleen Mustafa Aldulaimi was the first baby born at Maine Medical Center in Portland on New Year’s Day.

Israa Aldulaimi and Mustafa Ismail of Falmouth welcomed their daughter at 12:24 a.m. Wednesday, said Chelsea Miller, hospital spokeswoman.

Eleen, who is the couple’s first child, was born by Caesarean section more than a week past her due date and after 24 hours of labor. She had a full head of hair and weighed just over 7 pounds.

“I didn’t want a C-section, but the pain made me give in,” said Israa Aldulaimi, whose sister-in-law Marwa Ismail of Portland, translated for her.

Aldulaimi studied software engineering in Iraq before coming to Maine in 2019. Her husband came to Maine in 2009 and works as an interpreter.

“I’m proud that my daughter was the first to be born and will be famous for that,” Aldulaimi said. “The happiness I am feeling is indescribable.”

The first baby born at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center came only 11 minutes into the new year. Henry, weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, was born to Samuel, his biological father, and Kristie Carr, the gestational carrier, said hospital spokesman Benjamin Speed.

Samuel is a physical therapist from Sidney, Australia, and Kristie is a homemaker from Eddington. Kristie was also a gestational carrier for Simon’s other child, Samuel.

Elsewhere in Maine, two babies were born in the hours after midnight at Northern Light Gould Hospital in Presque Isle, said Karen Gonya, hospital spokeswoman.

The hospital’s first baby came into the world at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday and the second, Benson Steven Rodney Farley, arrived at 1:33 a.m.

Benson, born to Sydney Kinney and Brandon Farley of Washburn, weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces. He also took his time – his mother had been at the hospital since Monday.

“We’re just happy that he’s finally here and that he’s healthy,” Farley said in a news release. Benson is Kinney’s first child and Farley’s second.

Information about the first baby born Wednesday at Gould Hospital was unavailable.