Spokane couple welcomes their Baby New Year

Spokane’s first baby of 2019 has blue eyes, brown hair and a name that would make any tax collector jealous.

First-time parents Kayla Krucher and Daniel Cunning welcomed 9-pound Adoniram Cunning into the new year at 1:25 a.m. Tuesday at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

The devoutly religious couple named their boy after Protestant missionary Adoniram Judson, who served in Burma for more than 40 years in the early 19th century, and who himself is named after a Hebrew tax man of biblical times.

“He’s my wife’s and (my) favorite missionary,” said Cunning, 26. “It means the Lord is exalted as well.”

Krucher said Adoniram was born about 16 days early. The 20-year-old mother said she was in labor for 24 hours.

“I’m feeling great,” she said Tuesday afternoon from her hospital bed. “A lot better than after yesterday.”

Krucher said she and Cunning were surprised to learn their baby boy was the first birth of 2019 in Spokane. It wasn’t until they started receiving phone calls from reporters that it started to sink in – after all, they could now record news programs or cut out a newspaper clipping as a birthday keepsake.

“It’s definitely special,” said Krucher. “It will be something special to show him when he’s older.”

The couple, who married on May 4 of last year, , said they’re looking forward to raising Adoniram the best way they know how: with the full support of their church and religion.

“I want to invest in his life,” said Cunning. “Overall, it’s great. It’s exciting.”