High school sweethearts now have another special person in their lives to love.

At 5:27 a.m. Jan. 1, Spencer Nicklaus Morgan Henderson was born at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour.

The son of Anthony and Lacie Henderson of Seymour was the first baby born at the hospital in 2018 — one of two that day and one of 19 born in the first week of the new year.

Coming in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long, Spencer immediately captured the hearts of his parents and other family members.

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“He is calm. He’s a good baby,” Lacie, 19, said.

Anthony, 19, said except for a 30-minute period soon after being born, Spencer hasn’t cried too much.

“I was expecting him to cry because my mom has had five kids. I’m the second one, and all of them were really loud when it came to crying and all of that,” Anthony said.

“He starts to whine when he has a dirty diaper, but you go to change it, and then he gets mad,” Lacie said.

“But as soon as it is changed, he goes quiet, and once he gets clothes on and we bean burrito him, he’s good,” Anthony said, noting the “Bean Burrito” nickname a grandfather came up with when the newborn is wrapped in a blanket.

The couple didn’t know when to expect the baby’s arrival.

Initially, they were told he would arrive around mid-February. Then during other doctor’s visits, they were told other due dates.

“I just went with what my mom said. She said it was going to happen at the beginning of the year. I trusted her judgment rather than theirs,” Anthony said.

“That’s what my mom said, too,” Lacie said. “At the end, I was just like, ‘OK, just any time now. Let’s get it out.’”

About halfway through her pregnancy, Lacie had to be put on nausea pills because she felt sick and wasn’t gaining any weight.

“Once she started taking those, she was completely fine,” Anthony said.

“I could finally eat pizza again,” Lacie said, laughing.

A couple of months before the baby arrived, Lacie had false contractions twice while working and had to go to the hospital each time.

On New Year’s Eve, she began feeling pain, so her mother took her to the hospital.

“We didn’t know if it was just my body still stretching out or whatnot,” she said. “I didn’t feel contractions. It was a lot of pain in my ribs, and it hurt to breathe in and out, almost like after running the mile in gym. Your ribs tighten up, and you’re just really sore.

“I wanted pain meds. That’s all I wanted,” she said. “I couldn’t get to sleep. I was falling asleep from exhaustion of not having sleep, and then waking back up because I was hurting real bad.”

At the hospital, doctors determined she was in labor. Since she was preeclamsic, she was put on magnesium to level out her blood pressure.

About four hours into her stay, she was induced and given an epidural.

“I think it was the epidural and all of the magnesium that they had me on was what slowed it down or else I would have probably had (the baby) New Year’s Eve,” Lacie said.

The medication helped Lacie finally get some sleep. Meanwhile, Anthony did his best to stay awake despite coming off of a couple of hours of sleep after working a double-shift.

Lacie was in labor about 27 hours until giving birth to the couple’s first child.

“They were going to do skin to skin when he first came out. They were wiping him off, but (Lacie) doesn’t do blood really well,” Anthony said.

“They laid him on me on a blanket,” Lacie said. “I fell in love with him.”

Anthony proudly said he got to hold Spencer skin to skin first.

“That was awesome. That’s why he likes Daddy more,” he joked.

“No, because with him holding him first, he changed the first poopy diaper,” Lacie said, smiling.

“I changed all of them until we left the hospital,” he responded.

“I helped you with one of them,” she said.

Once Spencer arrived, Anthony and his wife experienced a range of emotions.

“I was like mindless the whole time. Usually, my mind is going a million miles a minute, but that was just stopped dead in its tracks,” Anthony said.

“I was ready for it, but then preparing and actually happening are two completely different things,” Lacie said.

Fortunately, when Lacie was released from the hospital Wednesday, they had everything they needed for Spencer, thanks to gifts from family members and friends.

Most of those items are at their apartment in Seymour.

“Clothes, diapers, toys for when he gets older, we have a lot,” Anthony said.

“By the end of it, we were just waiting on him. We had everything else,” Lacie said.

Lacie is taking care of her baby at her mother’s home near Dudleytown while Anthony tries to find a larger apartment or duplex for the couple to live in with their roommate.

In terms of the baby’s name, the couple agreed on Spencer being the first name, and they also liked one middle name to be Morgan. The other middle name, though, was Lacie’s idea.

“Nicklaus, it was on a show that I was watching on Netflix, ‘Vampire Diaries,’” she said. “I heard it on there. I thought it was neat. It was the first time I ever heard it, and I looked it up, and it was an Old English name that means ‘little warrior,’ so I was like, ‘I have to have that name. I like it.’”

As far as having more children, Anthony said his maximum is three, but Lacie said she would like five.

“This is an argument we have on a daily (basis),” Lacie said, smiling.

For now, though, they are just excited to enjoy their first baby.

“We’re ecstatic for these upcoming years, but as soon as he hits 2, straight to Mom,” Anthony said.

“No, that’s when we send him to Nana’s house. When he reaches terrible 2s, Nana can take care of it,” Lacie said with another smile.

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Name: Spencer Nicklaus Morgan Henderson

Born: 5:27 a.m. Jan. 1

Where: Schneck Medical Center in Seymour

Size: 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long

Parents: Anthony and Lacie Henderson of Seymour

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