At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, when most Utah County residents were sipping nonalcoholic bubbly or kissing loved ones, strangers Julie Harris and Christy Nielson were in the midst of the same ordeal.

Twenty miles apart, each woman was deep in the throes of childbirth. Their experiences were not identical -- Christy delivered by C-section, while Julie pushed -- but before the clock had struck 1 o'clock, each had introduced a new life to the world. Derek Harris was Utah County's first baby of the year, born at 12:31 a.m. at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.

"We got lucky, because he was two weeks early," Julie said of her 6-pound-12-ounce, 18.5-inch son as she cradled him.

But not too lucky, husband Layne joked -- had Derek been born just an hour earlier, he would have helped his parents earn a child tax credit worth up to $1,000 on this year's returns. Now they'll have to wait until they file their 2009 taxes in 2010.

"At least he's got a story now," he said. "He'll remember that more than our 1,000 bucks."

Julie said labor was easy -- she "pushed like twice" and there was her son. Layne said that may have been the easy part, but the couple had been concerned whether Derek would be on his way at all. They tried for five years before having their first child, Derek's older sister, 2-year-old Mylee. The two kids will share a room in the family's Spanish Fork home when Derek and mom go home tonight.

"We had to paint the pink walls brown to match both of them, Layne said.

The county's second birth came a mere four minutes later, when Jared Nielson was born at 12:35 a.m. at Mountain View Hospital in Payson. Coming in at 20 inches and weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces, mother Christy said he's "healthy and just perfect." She said she, too, had thought about the benefits of having the child earlier, but for a different reason.

"I was ready to be done," she said.

Because of the C-section, Christy will stay at the hospital for a couple days to recover before going home, also to Spanish Fork, to rejoin her husband and two other children, ages 5 and 20 months. In the meantime, Jared is proving to be a snuggler and a "singing baby," she said.

"He lays and hums and sings," she said.

That's a contrast to little Derek, who was "pretty wild inside me," his mom said. But since he's been out, he's been calmer, she said.

"We'll see," Julie said.

Layne said the birth has special significance because Derek carries the middle name of his paternal grandfather, Houston. Houston died in February, just a month or so before Derek was conceived, he said.

"We think he picked him for us," he said.

Both sets of parents say they plan to have more children. How many?

"As many as we need," Christy said.

Derek and Jared weren't the only Utah County births in the first hour of the new year. Shelby, a 3-year-old chocolate labrador belonging to Matt and Christie Gammell of Springville, has eight new puppies to care for. They include four males and four females, born about 12:30 a.m.

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or astryker@heraldextra.com.