A New Year’s Tradition: Family Welcomes Another Holiday Baby at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center

Briella Nance Faniel arrived at Holmes Regional Medical Center weighing 5 pounds, 4 ounces, and measuring 18 inches

Born at about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 1, Briella Faniel follows big brother’s footsteps — and ushers in a year packed with national celebrations.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — Earlier this week, Ashia Oxendine half-joked about the timing of her second pregnancy.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I have the New Year’s Eve baby. What if I have a New Year’s baby?’” the 23-year-old Melbourne mom said.

At 2:26 a.m. on Jan. 1, she did.

Briella Nance Faniel arrived at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center weighing 5 pounds, 4 ounces, and measuring 18 inches.

The mother of the first baby born in Brevard County this year delivered a girl at Viera Hospital at 12:17 a.m. and was not available for media participation. Briella, however, was Holmes Regional’s first baby of 2026.

By late morning, Oxendine cradled her newborn as big brother Jaylen, 4, and dad, Marcus Faniel, 22, looked on. While Briella was the Space Coast’s second birth of the new year, her arrival still makes for a memorable family milestone.

It turns out her big brother knows something about good timing, too — Jaylen made his debut at Holmes four years ago on New Year’s Eve.

Oxendine says the two experiences couldn’t have been more different. Jaylen’s labor stretched on for hours. With Briella, contractions started around 10 p.m. the night before.

“They weren’t really consistent,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, this is probably not the real thing.’ And then I woke up all of a sudden.”

Those contractions quickly proved otherwise.

“I woke up, and it was bad,” Oxendine said. She delivered shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Jaylen was born at 5:38 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021, weighing six pounds, nine ounces, and measuring 19 inches. Will the siblings one day battle for birthday bragging rights? It’s too early to tell.

What is clear: Briella picked an eventful year for her grand entrance.

The nation’s 250th birthday celebration will stretch across the entirety of 2026, and major holidays and observances — Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Halloween, and Christmas — all fall on Saturdays in 2026.

Briella will also grow up able to say she was born in a year marked by the Winter Olympics, the World Cup, and a highly anticipated solar eclipse on Aug. 12.

Briella is one of what will surely be more than 5,000 Space Coast births in 2026 as the county continues to grow. In 2024, Brevard County recorded 5,471 births, according to the Florida Department of Health. From Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, 2025, there were already 5,103 live births, with December still being counted.

She also joins the emerging Generation Beta, which includes children born from 2025 through 2039. According to McCrindle Research, this generation will grow up immersed in smart technology and AI, influencing how they learn, work and experience healthcare and entertainment.

For now, Oxendine and Faniel are simply grateful for their healthy baby girl. And no — their anniversary is not on New Year’s.

“When I was little, I never really did anything for New Year’s,” Oxendine said with a laugh. “So I was like, ‘You know what? That’s probably why I had kids on New Year’s, even New Year’s Day — just so I can have something to do, party and celebrate.’”

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