Not quite a New Year’s baby

Published 12:21 am Wednesday, January 4, 2012

On a quiet hall on the third floor of Vidant Beaufort Hospital, formerly UHS–Beaufort Hospital, a baby sleeps. Snuggled in a pink blanket, Beaufort County’s first baby of 2012 seems impervious to the oohs and ahs of her many visitors.

Born at 12:04 a.m. Jan. 2, Trinitee Hardy-Moore came into the world a little earlier than her mother, Miko Hardy, expected. Little Trinitee was due Jan. 19, but Hardy had a feeling she wasn’t even going to make it to her Caesarean section scheduled for Jan. 12.

Trinitee Hardy–Moore was welcomed into the world at 12:04 a.m. Jan.2 by her mother, Miko Hardy, and father, Ernest Moore, of Edward. (WDN Photo/Vail Stewart Rumley)

She was right. Hardy called 911 from her Edward home Sunday night, arriving at the hospital at 10 p.m. Two hours later, Trinitee was born, just missing the Jan. 1 birthday her mother wanted her to have.

“I was shocked, but I was excited too,” said Hardy. “I was ready to have her.”

Trinitee was named by her father, Ernest Moore, after one of Moore’s favorite music groups, Trinitee 5:7, a Grammy-nominated duo widely recognized as one of the best gospel acts in the genre.

Trinitee has two older sisters and an older brother waiting for their new sister at home.

“They’re excited,” said Hardy of her other children’s reaction to Trinitee’s arrival. “They haven’t seen her yet — just pictures — but they’re excited.”

Each year, hospital volunteers put together a large gift basket filled with baby gifts and products for Beaufort County’s first 2012 baby. Volunteers Phil Ryals, Ann Barrett and Inez Boyd presented the Hardy-Moore family with the basket filled with stuffed animals, blankets and baby supplies Tuesday afternoon.

Hardy’s made a plan to spend a few months at home taking care of Trinitee before she resumes looking for work in March as a certified nursing assistant/personal-care aide.

What she didn’t make this year were any New Year’s resolutions. And, now, she’s just glad her New Year’s baby is here and healthy.