SOUTH BEND — The first baby of the New Year usually grabs the headlines, but it's the babies born at the end of the year who bring in the last-minute tax savings. Babies born before the stroke of midnight could save their parents thousands of dollars.

"At home, contractions woke me up about 5 or 5:30 this morning, and it was pretty steady," said Amber Miller in the delivery room at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in South Bend.

Miller and the baby's father, Stanley Garrison, sat in the delivery room all morning, hoping to have their baby on New Year's Eve.

"I would like to have him born by midnight," Garrison said. "Just a way to start the year off."

But the couple knew the timing wasn't up to them.

"Five minutes will seem like an eternity, but all you can do is wait and be patient," said Garrison.

They were also well aware of the huge tax deduction their tiny bundle of joy could bring if he arrived before midnight.

Babies born on or before December 31 provide parents with a $3,500 tax exemption for 2008. Parents my also qualify to claim a Child Tax Credit, worth up to $1,000, and an Income Tax Credit — depending on how much they make.

Miller and Garrison lucked out — Nicolas Scott Garrison was born at 12:44 Wednesday afternoon.

At Lakeland Hospital in Niles, Kristi Rogers and Scott Herrman welcomed a little girl.

"[The tax deduction] will be nice," Herrman said.

"Babies are expensive," Rogers Echoed.

They welcomed Ellie Marie Herrman at 11:40 Wednesday morning, three days before the January 3 due date.

Herrman said he didn't realize the tax deduction would add up to at least $3,500.

Both couples told WSBT they really didn't have a preference when their babies were born, but labor and delivery nurses knew the New Year's excitement would not end at midnight.

"You're rooting for everybody," said Sherri Vaegh, a Registered Nurse at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. "You wanna be the first hospital to have the first New Year's baby."

H & R Block donated gift baskets and free tax advice to parents who had the last baby of the year at five local hospitals.

The hospitals themselves usually give a gift to the parents who have the first baby of the year.

All new parents receive the $3,500 tax credit. But if a baby is born after midnight on New Year's Eve, the parents do not get to claim that money until the end of 2009.