Thiamhien Lazarus Arnold, known as Theo, was the first baby born in the ACT in 2012.
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As he slept peacefully in the maternity ward at Calvary Hospital in Bruce, it would be impossible to guess at the difficult delivery that had brought Theo into the world at 2.49am yesterday.
His proud parents, Leliana Setiono Arnold and Luke Arnold, said they had been expecting him a lot sooner after Mrs Arnold went into labour on Friday.
''We thought he'd arrive on the 31st,'' she said.
Mrs Arnold was understandably more pleased to finally meet her first-born son than about his being Canberra's first 2012 baby.
''We would have been excited anyway,'' she said.
But Mr Arnold said it would be nice to someday explain to Theo how he held on to make his entrance in the new year.
''It's something to tell him about at his 21st,'' he said.
Mrs Arnold was full of praise for how the Calvary staff had helped her.
She said she was tired, but delighted by Theo's arrival, and Mr Arnold explained that his name reflected both parents' family heritages.
''Thiamhien is Chinese Indonesian, Lazarus is Jewish and Arnold is English,'' Mr Arnold said.
''But we'll call him Theo for short.''
Theo weighed in at 3.7kg. He was visited by his grandparents yesterday afternoon. The Arnolds are looking forward to taking him home in about four days' time.
