Quick. What's one "news" story guaranteed to be featured in Tuesday's local news? That's right! The annual "First Baby of the New Year" story. Snore!

But I do have some questions about the whole "time of birth" thing anyway, even though I had mine waaaay past any new year in March. How do you tell who the winner is for those citywide contests? I mean, do hospitals synchronize their clocks? Are nurses required to look at the clock? And when, officially, is a baby born? Head out? Feet out? Cut, swaddled and Apgar scored? Do laboring moms watch the clock to ensure their win all those great door prizes (and is holding the baby in any longer than necessary worth any amount of money?)

Thanks to Slate for handling these important New Years babies questions.

To be born, the whole body must be out. And the time is whatever a nurse calls out after looking at a clock on the wall. (So official!) As for holding the baby in, it's not likely. Though an epidural does dull the urge to push so ... if you're working the system, go for the javelin. On the flip side, hurrying the kid out just for some free diapers won't likely work either. Damn that Mother Nature! And if you're going for the c-section, well, you'd better schedule it at a very rural hospital. It's not likely doc will agree to surgery at 11:59 p.m. So you'll want the lowest traffic maternity ward you can find.

Is any of this worth a bag of free diapers and a post-partum interview on Channel 7?