ORLANDO, Fla. — It's a New Year tradition: Hospitals racing to announce the first babies born in 2015.
Channel 9's Janai Norman was at Winnie Palmer Hospital, where she met Orlando's first 2015 baby.
But some hospitals are doing away with the tradition.
At least five hospitals in central Florida belong to Community Health Systems, which has ordered its facilities to stop publicizing the first baby of the year.
But at Winnie Palmer, Rock Carter's family was happy to share the news.
The rest of the country counted away the last seconds of 2014.
The big orange dropped in Orlando, welcoming the New Year.
Just a few miles south, Courtney and Rock Carter said their baby came more than a week early.
"We weren't anticipating coming in last night, but he wanted to make a grand entrance," said Courtney Carter. "It's a wonderful experience and something we can share with him for the rest of his life, and this isn't something that happens very often, and it's always great to have a good story on the news, right?"
Rock Carter was born at 12:02 a.m. Thursday, weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces. He has three siblings.
"We didn't even think about it until nurses brought in a little hat, put it on him and called him the New Year's baby," said his father, Rock Carter.
Even as hospitals around the country have stopped sharing the news of newborns out of concerns for abductions and identity theft, Rock's parents said they were not too concerned.
"He's a blessing. We're happy to share him a little bit before we take him home," said Courtney Carter.
The Carters said they read the articles about hospitals no longer releasing the information and have taken the concerns into consideration.