Aja and Steve Meers had a bet about when their baby would be born. She said Dec. 31. He said Jan. 1. Not only was Steve right, but Fiona Jayde Meers was born Jan. 1 at 4:10 a.m., making her Rapid City's first 2008 baby.

"He won," Aja said, laughing. "I think I have to do the dishes for a year."

When Aja, 19, and Steve, 21, leave Rapid City Regional Hospital, Fiona, who is their first child, will probably not be going with them. Although born almost two weeks overdue and weighing 8 pounds and 5 ounces, Fiona has been on oxygen in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit since she was born.

"You get pretty nervous to find out your baby is not in the regular nursery," Aja said, adding that after tests were run, the problem could be pneumonia or an infection in the lungs.

The day they get to take her home depends on her improvement in the next couple of days, Aja said, adding that she is optimistic her daughter will be OK.

"She's got to tell us what to do," she said.

Pamela Stillman-Rokusek of the hospital's public-relations department said it was the first time in at least the past 10 years that a New Year's baby has been in the neonatal unit. She said the family received a gift basket of clothes and diapers from the hospital in congratulations for having the first baby of the year.

Fiona, who was born with a shock of brown hair, sucked intently on a pacifier Wednesday morning as Aja moved her gently back and forth in a rocking chair. A blue oxygen tube stayed near her face, and a faint beep sounded every few minutes to remind nurses that she was not in her bed.

Holding Fiona for the first time, Steven said, "was a once-in-a-lifetime" experience.

"I've never felt that before," he said.

Steven is in the Air Force and will leave for Pennsylvania for temporary duty Jan. 7, so it was a blessing to have the baby when she did, Aja said.

One of the best things about Fiona coming New Year's Day was that Aja got to watch the New Year's Eve celebration from the comforts of a hospital bed.

"We don't get cable," she said. "I got to stay awake and see the ball drop at midnight."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or Kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com