Long Island's likely first baby of 2025, Gulbano Khan, born at Huntington Hospital at 12:10 a.m.
Meryum Ali and Ashfaq Khan had wanted a New Year’s Day baby.
They had planned for it and Ali even asked the doctor to delay pushing during delivery on the night of New Year’s Eve so that her baby would be born the next day.
Just 10 minutes after the new year ushered in, the couple's wish came true: Their daughter, Gulbano Khan, was born at Huntington Hospital, the first in 2025 at Northwell Health maternity wards across the New York City area and perhaps the first on Long Island.
While they had wished for it, the couple, both 29, of North Babylon, said they knew they couldn’t force it. "It was meant to be," the father said.
What the couple didn’t and couldn’t plan for was that their baby was the first born at Northwell Health, according to a spokeswoman for the hospital system. Northwell operates eight maternity wards across Long Island, Westchester County and New York City. The system’s doctors and nurses deliver 30,000 babies a year.
"We never even imagined that it's something that we would experience with our girl," Ali said after learning the news. "At the maternity place we were, I was hearing babies getting born and all that. But I didn't even expect that it's going to be this special for us."
Gulbano weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 21 inches long. She is the couple’s second child. Their firstborn, a son, Muhammed Esa Khan, was born in February.
Gulbano means the princess of flowers in Pashto, a language spoken in northern Pakistan, where the couple emigrated from. Ali and Khan married on Valentine’s Day in 2020.
Having a son who just turned 11 months old Wednesday, Ali said she was exhausted during her second pregnancy. And not to mention the pain of delivery.
But now looking at her daughter, who was dressed in a beige sweater dress and a headband adorned with flowers, she said it was all worth it.
"I forgot all my pain," Ali said with a big smile on her face. "I forgot how I was yesterday, crying, you know, with so much pain. I forgot all that. Seeing her is just making me smile."
Meryum Ali and Ashfaq Khan had wanted a New Year’s Day baby.
They had planned for it and Ali even asked the doctor to delay pushing during delivery on the night of New Year’s Eve so that her baby would be born the next day.
Just 10 minutes after the new year ushered in, the couple's wish came true: Their daughter, Gulbano Khan, was born at Huntington Hospital, the first in 2025 at Northwell Health maternity wards across the New York City area and perhaps the first on Long Island.
While they had wished for it, the couple, both 29, of North Babylon, said they knew they couldn’t force it. "It was meant to be," the father said.
What the couple didn’t and couldn’t plan for was that their baby was the first born at Northwell Health, according to a spokeswoman for the hospital system. Northwell operates eight maternity wards across Long Island, Westchester County and New York City. The system’s doctors and nurses deliver 30,000 babies a year.
"We never even imagined that it's something that we would experience with our girl," Ali said after learning the news. "At the maternity place we were, I was hearing babies getting born and all that. But I didn't even expect that it's going to be this special for us."
Gulbano weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 21 inches long. She is the couple’s second child. Their firstborn, a son, Muhammed Esa Khan, was born in February.
Gulbano means the princess of flowers in Pashto, a language spoken in northern Pakistan, where the couple emigrated from. Ali and Khan married on Valentine’s Day in 2020.
Having a son who just turned 11 months old Wednesday, Ali said she was exhausted during her second pregnancy. And not to mention the pain of delivery.
But now looking at her daughter, who was dressed in a beige sweater dress and a headband adorned with flowers, she said it was all worth it.
"I forgot all my pain," Ali said with a big smile on her face. "I forgot how I was yesterday, crying, you know, with so much pain. I forgot all that. Seeing her is just making me smile."
New hope for justice Theresa Cerney's killing is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney's new cold case unit. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn and Newsday investigative reporter Sandra Peddie have this exclusive story.
New hope for justice Theresa Cerney's killing is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney's new cold case unit. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn and Newsday investigative reporter Sandra Peddie have this exclusive story.
