Noelle Joy Klinker is the only baby in Boston to be born on December 12, 2012 at 12:12 p.m., and she will hold that title for the next 100 years. Noelle was born into the world through natural child birth, weighing a
healthy nine pounds, one ounce, to parents Colleen and Joe Klinker of Reading on Wednesday. “We were not expecting this at all…certainly not at 12:12 p.m.,” said Colleen from her hospital bed at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she spoke to reporters just hours after giving birth to her daughter. Noelle’s rare birth, and even rarer timing, falls on a date that occurs once every century. The 12/12/12 structure where the two-digit combination is repeated three times in a row won’t happen again until the year 2112. “We definitely never, ever expected anything like this—and it’s really cool—but I’m just happy to hold her in my arms,” said Colleen. With her other two kids, Gracie, 5, and J.T., 4, by her bedside, Colleen said her daughter’s actual due date was December 19. But a day prior to Noelle coming into the world, Colleen started to feel a bit “funny” and the family decided to head to Mass. General. Colleen’s doctor, Laura Riley, M.D., said the ward delivered 17 babies as of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, but she somehow knew Noelle would arrive around 12:12 p.m. “I thought to myself ‘I think we can do this,’” said Riley. “I had her push, and Noelle was born. It was amazing.” Colleen’s husband, Joe, who stood in the corner of the small hospital room at Mass. General as reporters asked Colleen about Noelle’s birth, joked that he tried to get his wife to hold on until the clock struck 12:12 p.m. “When 11:50 rolled around everyone kind of looked at each other,” said Joe Klinker. “At 12:11 we said ‘wait for it,’ ‘hold it,’ then at 12:12 said ‘OK, go for it!,’” Joking aside, Joe said the “12/12/12 coincidence” paled in comparison to the “miracle of her being safe” and healthy. While they had no intentions to have Noelle on the unique date, Colleen called her daughter’s arrival “a special gift” that “just worked out.” “She came at the minute,” she said, holding Noelle in her arms. “And the family is very lucky.” Colleen said it wouldn’t have mattered to her if Noelle were born a minute later, or a week later, however. “Any day that a parent gets to welcome a newborn baby is a lucky day,” she said. According to WVCB, another baby was born by natural child birth in Worcester at the UMass Memorial Medical Center. Abigail Clinton was born at 12:12 p.m to John and Ra-Chan Clinton of Worcester.