Korbyn Liggins, the son of a Paris Police Department officer and a Paris Ford salesman, made his entrance into the world at 12:29 a.m. Jan. 1, the first baby born at Paris Regional Medical Center in 2008.

Weighing six pounds and four ounces and measuring 19 and a half inches in length, the New Year’s baby is the son of Paris police officer Ronnica Blake, 32, and Joseph Liggins, 31. He is the couple’s first child.

Their son’s birth on New Year’s Day came as a surprise to the parents, who expected their baby to arrive no earlier than Jan. 15.

“I was planning to go to work on New Year’s Eve,” Blake said. On light duty during the final months of her pregnancy, the mother worked as a dispatcher.

Things started happening about 10:30 a.m. that morning and by 11:30 a.m. her contractions were about 15 minutes apart, a good indication labor was in full swing.

“I came to the hospital a little after noon and then everything stopped,” the first time mother said.

On the way to the hospital Blake said she stopped by a local restaurant for a jumbo hamburger, curly fries and a strawberry drink.

“I was starving,” she said. Later she would suffer nausea, a reminder of the first three months or so of her pregnancy when she suffered from morning sickness.

Her spouse said the burger stop was not out of the ordinary although he said the couple had been living on Mexican food in recent months.

“That’s all she’s wanted,” he said. “Ta Molly’s, Taco Bell, Rio Verde and Taco Delight.”

The new mother has had typical cravings as well.

“One night she called me at work to bring her home a dill pickle,” Liggins said. “She got her pickle after I got stopped by police because I had a tail light out.”

Liggins said he has athletic ambitions for his son. A 1994 graduate of Paris High School, he played football, soccer and basketball.

“His mother was quite an athlete too,” the proud father said. Blake was a track star at Chisum High School where she graduated in 1993.

The couple expressed appreciation to the staff at Paris Regional’s Women and Children’s Hospital.

“I love the people here,” Blake said. “They were so good.”

The mother’s intentions were to have the baby by natural childbirth, but after her doctor ordered medicine to speed up the process a bit, Blake said she decided differently and received a spinal block so she could remain awake during the entire process but not feel pain.

Both mother and father stayed busy New Year’s Day taking care of their newborn in a private room.

Liggins said quite proudly that he assisted Dr. Mark Vaughn deliver his son. Immediate family members are allowed to remain in the labor rooms at the hospital, which are converted to delivery rooms.

“Everything is so nice,” the mother said. “They treat you really special and that makes it nice.”

Blake mentioned nurses Mandie Watson and Selina Anderson by name.

“They became my really good friends,” the mother quipped.

Paris Regional and its hospital auxiliary along with several local merchants presented the couple and their New Year’s baby with an assortment of necessities along with flowers for the door.

Little Korbyn is the grandson of Dorothy Blake and Ronnie Blake, both of Paris, Margaret Wade of Paris and Joe Liggins of Clarksville and the great grand-son of Dorothy Council of Paris and Granvel and Bessie Blake, of Brookston.