Corina and Zack Pirulli welcomed their first child, a son, at 4:22 pm Thursday, January 1.

Jo-Ann DaSilva was the first to remind her daughter about the longstanding First Baby of Newtown Contest, within a few hours of her grandson’s birth.

“It was in the midst of the chaos of everything that was happening. I was still fatigued, and Zack was trying to handle everything himself so that he could take care of Milo, and my mom was like ‘Let’s just give this a shot,’” Corina said Monday morning, laughing at the memory. “I was like ‘Yeah go ahead,’ but I also remember thinking ‘4 in the afternoon, there’s no way we’ll be the first baby.’”

Fortunately, Jo-Ann acted on her impulse, which ultimately led to her new grandson indeed being named the 2026 Newtown Bee First Baby of Newtown.

Milo Damiano Pirulli weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long at the time of his birth. Despite a scare as Milo was making his entrance into the world, the Pirullis were thrilled, Corina said, with their experience at Danbury Hospital.

Corina and Zack had planned to have “this very Zen birth,” she said this week. “But as they say, ‘You make plans and God laughs.’”

After laboring for several hours on January 1, even making it to eight cm, Corina had to undergo an emergency Cesarean section after hospital staff could not find Milo on the monitor.

Within minutes Milo was born, but not before Corina lost a lot of blood, and her son had some difficulty breathing, the Pirullis shared.

Milo spent 24 hours in the NICU, “but he recovered quickly, and we were able to come home Saturday,” Corina said.

Despite those unplanned circumstances, Corina and Zack were not only grateful to be able to return home within 48 hours, they raved over the treatment they received.

“Danbury Hospital and all the staff — the nurses, the OB, Dr Kelly — they were all amazing,” she said. “They made us feel safe in a very scary time.”

Corina is a physician’s assistant. Zack is a co-owner, with his father, of a Budget Blinds franchise.

The couple moved into their beautiful home in southern Newtown in September 2024, having lived in Shelton before that.

“We knew we wanted to build, and we just love the area here,” she said. The Pirullis live in a section of town area populated by horse farms and barns, and plenty of open space. Family events have already included watching as horses participating in Newtown Bridle Lands Association’s annual Frost on the Pumpkin event a few months ago went right along their property line.

“It was amazing,” Corina said. “The riders and their horses were in costumes and they were right there.”

Their home has plenty of space for running and playing, and the property has a gorgeous view Corina and Zack both appreciate.

Milo’s first name was selected by his parents.

The name means “soldier” in Italian, honoring his father’s heritage.

“He’s definitely been a little trooper,” Corina shared. In addition to the birth, “we had couple of scares at the beginning of my pregnancy — nothing too serious, and he’s healthy — so I thought it was fitting.”

Additionally, 16 members of the Pirulli family traveled to Italy last summer, and on one of the nights while everyone was there, they went out for dinner. By that time, they’d already been leaning toward the name Milo if their firstborn was a boy.

“I thought I knew the name of the restaurant but they had changed it since my research, and the name was Milo,” Corina said. With her husband nodding and smiling next to her, Corina said she and Zack took that as a sign.

“We were like ‘That’s it! It has to be!” she said.

The cavalry has already been called in to help the new parents for a few days. When Zach contracted a stomach bug early last week he self-isolated to make sure his wife and son stayed healthy.

“I didn’t see them for five days, which was very hard to do,” Zach said. “Fortunately her mother and sister and my mother came, and were here pretty much the whole time I was quarantined.”

Milo’s middle name honors three generations of Pirullis before him. Damiano is also his father and paternal grandfather’s middle name. It was also the first name of his paternal great-grandfather, a first-generation Italian immigrant to America.

Milo’s maternal grandparents are Jo-Anne DaSilva and Amarildo DaSilva, and his maternal great-grandparents are Barbara and Jim Gilman and Zilda DaSilva.

His paternal grandparents are Debbie Pirulli and Pete Pirulli. His paternal great-grandmother is Barbara Butterworth.

The 2026 Prize Package

As is tradition, the honorary title of First Baby of Newtown comes with a prize package filled with donations from local businesses. The 2026 prize package is as follows:

A $100 gift certificate from Art & Frame; $100 off trash service or $100 off dumpster rental from Associated Refuse Haulers; dinner for Corina and Zack from Blue Colony Diner; a $40 gift certificate to Byrd’s Books; a $25 gift certificate from Carminuccio’s Pizza & Subs; a Family Four-Pack to Corina and Zack’s show of choice at Edmond Town Hall; a $50 gift certificate from Dodgingtown Crafts & Spirits;

a $50 gift certificate from Dodgingtown Market & Deli; a $25 gift card from Fusion 25; a $25 gift certificate from Hero Barbering; a $50 gift card from HillTop Kitchen; and a $50 gift certificate from Hollandia Nurseries.

Also, a $50 gift card from My Place Pizza & Restaurant; a $50 gift card from NewSylum Brewing Co; a one-year subscription or renewal to The Newtown Bee; a $100 gift card from Newtown Hardware; a $25 gift certificate from Newtown Power Equipment; a $100 deposit to a savings account in Milo’s name from Newtown Savings Bank; a $25 gift card from Nick’s Catering; a large cheese pizza from Papa Al’s Pizza Pasta Subs; a $50 gift certificate from Ricci’s Salon; a $30 gift certificate from Stony Hill Hardware; a $50 gift card from The Toy Tree; a $50 gift certificate from UK Gourmet; and a Simplicity S65 Cordless Multi-Use Vacuum from Vacuum Mart.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.