GREENFIELD – It’s been a week full of surprises for the family who welcomed Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s first baby of 2025.

Agnes Coakley Cox and Nate Cox, both 38, arrived at the hospital on Dec. 31, as Coakley Cox prepared for induction. Coming into the hospital on the 31st, they said, meant they could still have a chance at having a 2024 baby.

Instead, it was a double New Year surprise for Coakley Cox and Cox, who are a singer/voice teacher and software engineer, respectively, as they welcomed Margaret Anne Cox to the world at 9:56 a.m. Thursday morning.

“We didn’t know if she was going to be a boy or a girl, so that was a surprise, which we think is fun,” Coakley Cox said. “It’s exciting because we don’t have any other little girls in our family – she’s the first.”

Margaret had been on their shortlist of names and they ended up rolling with it, taking inspiration from Cox’s great aunt’s name of Peggy. Margaret’s middle name, Anne, is inspired by Coakley Cox’s grandmother’s name.

“We were looking for names that are not super common, but have a classic quality to them,” Cox said.

The new youngest Franklin County resident weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces and is happy and healthy following what Coakley Cox and Cox said was a series of complications that prevented them from leaving Greenfield during the holidays. She was originally due on Jan. 8, but there were some questions around Thanksgiving if she needed to be born before then.

The labor process, they added, was “pretty smooth,” especially compared to the complications they experienced having their first child, Simon, 4.

“It started off very slow and once it picked up, it was like, ‘Boom,’ and then it happened really fast,” Coakley Cox said, with Cox adding that Simon will be excited to meet his new sister. “He’s looking forward to meeting her today.”

As a bonus, the couple lives just down the road from Baystate Franklin, meaning it was just a short trip to the hospital on Dec. 31, which is a far cry from 2024’s first baby story, where a Belchertown couple made their way up to Greenfield from New Jersey to have their daughter.

“We’re really happy we got to have her here because it’s so close to home and we like the hospital a lot,” Coakley Cox said.

 Millers Falls welcomes 2025 baby 

A Montague mother has also marked the first delivery of 2025 at the LaChance Maternity Center at Heywood Hospital in Garder.

31 year-old Alexandra Hunt of Millers Falls welcomed her baby girl Adyline Joanne Hunt on New Years Day at 7:39 a.m. after going into labor only four hours before. Adyline was born at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 21 inches, according to a press release from Heywood Hospital. 

In a phone interview with Hunt, she said she felt “special” knowing that her baby girl was one of the first babies of 2025 to be born in the area, especially since Adyline came earlier than expected. 

“I feel pretty special, I'm not gonna lie,” Hunt said. “The hospital's been nice, and this interview – It's just it makes me feel so happy and proud.” 

A trip from Millers Falls to Gardner is more than a half-hour drive, but Hunt said she wanted to return to the hospital where she had her 5-year-old son, Landon. Before getting to the hospital, Hunt said she drove to New Salem where she picked up her mother, then drove to the hospital together from there. She expressed her gratitude to Dr. Jeffrey D. Blake who helped deliver her baby, along with the nurses. 

Now that she’s back home with Adyline, Hunt said she looks forward to the bonding time she will have with her daughter, and that her son is already stepping up to help her and his new baby sister as they begin their lives together by bringing Hunt diapers and water. 

“I’m really looking forward to the time off with her, because with my son, I went right back to work in two weeks,” Hunt explained. “I'm looking forward to experiencing the whole family-vibe, and getting my son to school, having alone time with her, then family time at night, and actually enjoying it.” 

With the unique designation of being some of the first children born of the new year, Margaret and Adyline are also some of the first to begin the new generation called “Generation Beta,” which started on Jan. 1. As reported by NBC News, Generation Beta starts in 2025 and lasts to roughly 2039, with the people of this generation possibly living into the 22nd century.  

 Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231. Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.