New Year’s Day baby cuts parents’ party short: ‘I thought it was a fluke’

Graziella Beckstrom was at a New Year’s Eve party with her husband when the contractions started.

“They started around 7:30, and I thought it was a fluke,” said Graziella, who was with friends and her husband, Chris, at a house party just a few blocks from their home. “Because every night I’ve been having them, but these ones were just so intense. They were in three-minute intervals, and then they just started coming.”

So Chris sprung into action and got his wife of 15 years into their car, and they headed off to the Centennial Hills Hospital, which is located within the city of Las Vegas in the northwest portion of the valley. Graziella had a due date of Dec. 31, but she never thought it would be this close to the clock.

“And then I got to the hospital and it was showtime apparently,” she said with a laugh.

Enter Hansen Beckstrom, born at 1:23 am, just 83 minutes after midnight. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and is 20 inches long. As one of the first babies born in the entire Las Vegas Valley in 2024, Hansen was technically, almost right on time, given his due date was Dec. 31, Chris said.

“He was slightly late, like just over an hour late technically,” Chris said with a chuckle, explaining the name comes from his great-grandmother’s maiden name and his grandfather’s middle name.

The maternity ward at Centennials Hills has welcomed two babies so far in 2024, and Clark County as a whole is expected to add approximately 52,000 people to its population base through births and immigration. This will be the highest bump in residents the county has seen in more than a decade, a number that will help the area breach 3 million residents sometime around 2037.

Both Graziella and Chris work at a local law firm (he is a partner and she is the office manager) and also have an 8-year-old son.

Graziella said the key to a happy marriage after 15 years together is being patient, understanding and always leaving room for compromise. Chris said another key is understanding that a relationship is a living thing in itself.

“If you’ve been together for that long of a time period, everybody is going to change, and the ones who will make it are the ones who are able to adapt together,” he said.

Graziella said she is happy her son was born when he was and has very humble but noble expectations for him.

“We just want him to be happy, and grow up to be a respectful person and a good guy,” she said. “He doesn’t have to be rich or anything like that, just happy.”

Chris said his newborn son will carry one thing with him as he grows up, a positive reminder that he was first out of the gate in 2024, cutting his parents’ New Year’s Eve party plans short.

“You know, he’s the first one here in the new year, so he’s here to set an example for all the other babies. Lead the charge.”

A previous version of this story gave the wrong length of the baby.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.