BROOKLYN — It was perfect timing for New York City's first baby of the year.
A Coney Island mom gave birth to her first child at the stroke of midnight, making baby Maxim Semak the first kid born in the city in the new year.
Alena Olenyukh, 30, gave birth to the 8.8-pound baby boy just as the ball dropped on the TV in her hospital room at Coney Island Hospital, hospital officials and the father said.
About 10 people in the room counted down along with the TV, supporting Olenyukh as she made the final pushes, said Vasyl Semak, 29, the baby's father, who spoke to DNAinfo as Olenyukh rested.
When the clock struck midnight, Maxim was born. It was "a great feeling," Semak said.
"All the things happened at the same time," he said. "[It] was the best new year fireworks."
Olenyukh had been due to give birth last Friday, and since then, she's been visiting the hospital every day to check up on her status, Semak said.
By Wednesday, doctors knew that Olenyukh would be ready to give birth in the new year, said Semak and Coney Island's assistant director of nursing Susan Mikus.
Olenyukh started relaxing as it got closer to midnight, breathing and staying calm so she could "push at the right time," Mikus said.
The staff, who have waited "many years" for the honor of first baby, were "extremely excited," she added.
"They anticipated it," Mikus said. "They knew that this would be the one [to be first of the year]."
In Washington Heights, the New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital also welcomed a baby at midnight.
And up in The Bronx, Montefiore Hospital welcomed a baby just one second after Maxim came into the world. Further information about the baby was not available.
Olenyukh and Semak, who both moved to New York from the Ukraine more than five years ago, will be celebrating with friends with a party a few weeks from now.
Maxim is the first child for both of them.
"It's a new feeling, that's all I can say," Semak said. "It was exciting."
