Tiny Hailey Irene Baca, the Santa Fe area's first newborn of 2012, apparently couldn't wait to get here.

She showed up at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center at 2:38 a.m. Sunday, 30 days before her expected arrival.

The daughter of Florence Archuleta, 24, and Patrick Baca, 32, of Pecos, Hailey took her first breath weighing only 3 pounds, 4 ounces and stretching a mere 17 1/2 inches long.

Hailey, adorned with a pink ribbon atop her forehead, slept peacefully in her mother's arms Sunday afternoon, not paying much attention to all the hullabaloo over her arrival.

She is expected to remain in the hospital another couple of weeks until some sucking and swallowing problems are resolved.

Hailey was delivered by Dr. Laura Wolfwinkel, with lots of help from nurses Cindy Horton and Ann Coopers.

The couple said the early arrival left Hailey with some weak throat and mouth muscles, which are expected to develop normally with a little help from a physical therapist.

Mom, a certified nursing assistant at El Castillo Retirement Center, was doing well after some scary complications during the night.

"There is just so much joy," Archuleta said. It was a rough few days, she said, noting that she and Baca had been making trips to and from the hospital since Wednesday, arriving the final time around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

"Once the baby is here," Archuleta said, "you forget all about that."

It's the couple's first child.

And although Hailey doesn't have any brothers or sisters, there are plenty of kinfolk around.

"She has tons of cousins," Archuleta said. Not to mention aunties, uncles, granddads and grandmothers, some great-grandparents and even a great-great grandmother.

And it's likely the relatives will all get a chance to read and sing to Hailey, who will bring home her own book, a CD of lullabies and a book about the importance of reading books to babies — all packed up in a bright canvas bag, courtesy of the Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library and the medical center's foundation.

Every baby born at Christus St. Vincent this year — an estimated 1,600 tiny people — will receive the reading bag, including an application for a library card, under the Books for Babies New Mexico program.

Hailey's mom also will receive a rocking chair from the foundation.

As for Hailey's beaming dad, Baca looked even more tired than her mom.

"I didn't know how much it takes to have a baby," he said. "It's much easier making them."

He said he intends to enjoy having a daughter "as long as she wants to hang around us."

Contact Dennis Carroll at dcarroll@sfnewmexican.com.