Brandon's first child in 2026 was born healthy and with a full head of hair.
Brielle Eva Henry was born at 1:16 a.m. Thursday at Brandon Regional Health Center to Virden residents Kendra Henry and Aaron Dayton.
Henry said Brielle will give her 2-year-old daughter, Chloe, a companion to spend time with.
Brielle, Brandon's first baby in 2026, is in the arms of her mom Kendra Henry on Thursday with her dad Aaron Dayton at Brandon Regional Health Center. Brielle was born at 1:16 a.m. Thursday. (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun)
“I’m really glad I have someone to play with,” Henry said as he held Brielle.
Brielle was born weighing almost eight pounds and 13 ounces. She is 21 and three quarter inches tall.
Henry said the couple left their Virden home around 9 a.m. on New Year's Eve, braving slick roads that developed later in the evening.
“Everyone told me to wait until midnight to have my first baby,” she said. “But I can’t control it, it just happened that way.”
Henry and Dayton said they spent some time brainstorming several names before settling on Brielle.
“We just picked a few names that we liked and narrowed them down until we came to a couple that made sense,” Dayton said. “(Chloe) got the obligatory second-hand names. That was clear.”
Going from a family of three to a family of four means “there's going to be a lot more craziness in the house,” he said, laughing.
The couple revealed on Thursday that Khloe would be coming to visit her sister later that day.
The family received a gift basket from the medical center that included stuffed animals, toys, baby clothes, a book, photo frames, spoons and a bouquet of flowers from Carolyn's Floral Designs.
