Afer two hours of contractions, who's to say you can't have a sense of humor?

Just be careful how you use it.

As 32-year-old Julie Rizalvo of South Riding battled her way through two hours of contractions at Prince William Hospital the night of Dec. 31, her husband of four years Jon Rizalvo, 37, kept the mood light by dropping a few one-liners here and there.

It's just that one of them ended up being too good, according to Julie,

"He had one that ruined my entire contraction push," she said. "Even our nurse lost count."

Then, came the actual birth.

Born at 12:26 a.m., Lucas Robert Rizalvo checked in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces, 19.75 inches and nine days ahead of schedule.

Yet, he was still 27 minutes behind the close of Uncle Sam's calendar year.

"We were pushing for a tax deduction from last year," said Jon nonchalantly.

Instead, the new father mentioned that gaining media attention from at least three news outlets for having the first baby born at Prince William Hospital in 2012 turned out to be a nice "consolation" prize.

When asked what her reaction was to the reality that she had just become a new mother, Julie replied, "You're like, 'Holy [expletive], that's my baby!'"

As for whether she considered delivering him via some other alternative method, Julie gave a firm no.

"As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I said, 'Write on my folder, 'Medication is fine,'" she recalled.

For the Pennsylvania native Julie, the birth of her first child just so happily coincided with the day the Philadelphia Eagles would trounce the Washington Redskins on the last day of the National Football League regular season.

As if being a couple from Loudoun County having the first baby in Manassas wasn't enough of an encroachment on visiting turf, she made sure that a green and white beanie blazing the Eagles' bird logo was ready to be placed on the little tike's head by the time photographers arrived.

It's always nice to flash your colors when you cheer for an away squad in "Redskins territory," as Julie put it.

(Jon, who's originally from New Jersey, claims neutrality.)

Not everything turned out to be quite so light-hearted for the Rizalvo family though.

"I think it was just scary, being our first baby," said Julie, recalling how during labor, she asked twice, "is this normal?" when a certain situation arrived.

"'He's not coming out,'" she remembered thinking at one point. "I thought for sure there's no way he's coming out."

That raised the possibility in her mind of having to do a Cesarean section to deliver Lucas.

After the birth, Lucas's body temperature was a bit cold, according to Julie, so he had to go in for oxygen.

Julie did get a chance to at least "make sure he's alive, (with) 10 fingers, 10 toes," she said.

Then it was time for the hospital staff to clean him up so she could hold him for a few minutes.

Her fear also subsided and a calmness set in.

She realized, "Oh, this is my son. We can do this."

The reason the South Riding duo even had their baby at Prince William Hospital in the first place is because that's where their doctor works. Julie's water broke at around 9:30 p.m. and by 11:30, she was in the birthing facility.

Within the hour, Lucas reared his head. Eventually, once everything settled down around 3 a.m., in came the hospital staff with sparkling apple cider to ring in the new year.

Funny hats, noise makers... it was as close to a party as a night at the Hylton Family Birthing Center as someone could realistically get.