Posted on 01/02/2007 3:49:53 PM PST by buccaneer81
Early delivery is first of new year Family welcomes 2007, baby boy after move to Columbus Tuesday, January 02, 2007 Encarnacion Pyle THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
It could have been coincidence, but Maria Naranjo Rodriguez likes to think that if she hadn’t eaten one of her motherin-law’s famously hot tamales on New Year’s Eve, she might never have gone into labor.
And if she hadn’t started having contractions at 7:30 p.m., she might never have given birth to Franklin County’s first baby of the new year.
"I had just taken a bite when my water broke," she said yesterday from her bed at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s hospital in Westerville while cradling her new son, Miguel Angel Naranjo.
"We couldn’t have planned it any better. Who would have thought: a new baby, a new year and a new life? "
She was mesmerized by little Miguel’s perfect smile as she ran her finger over his tiny lips.
"We were so afraid he would have a cleft lip," she said. "But he’s absolutely beautiful."
That fear had prompted Rodriguez, 35, and her husband, Serafin Cortez Torres, 25, to leave Michoacan, Mexico, for Columbus four months ago.
"My husband was born with a cleft palate," Rodriguez said through an interpreter. "So was his daughter from a previous relationship. And even his brother has a child with the same condition."
By coming to the United States, they felt assured that their baby would receive the best medical care.
"Thanks be to God he doesn’t have the defect," she said in Spanish while making the sign of the cross. "Being the first baby of 2007 must be good luck."
Rodriguez said her life has been like a fairy tale since meeting her husband last February. She noticed him picking avocados on a neighbor’s farm. Though she was intimidated by his boyish looks, she asked him out. After a 22-day courtship, they married on March 20.
"He’s a little younger than I am," she said. "But it’s the real thing. He loves me. I love him. And we both treat each other with respect."
Since moving to the North Side, Torres has worked nights cleaning a store. Rodriguez had planned to work, too, but broke both her ankles shortly before leaving Mexico.
Torres took the day off — his first — to help with the baby’s birth. His wife said he cried when Miguel sucked in his first breath and wailed his arrival. The baby, delivered by Caesarean section, weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces.
The nurses at St. Ann’s suspected that Miguel might be the year’s first baby when he was born at 12:36 a.m. but called other hospitals to be sure.
"It was so exciting. Maria was the first to ring in the year," said nurse Becky Chatel.
The county’s second baby of 2007 — also a boy — was born at St. Ann’s at 1:10 a.m.
"Delivering babies, that’s our hallmark," Chatel said. "Every year, we deliver between 4,000 and 6,000."
With a Jan. 7 due date, Rodriguez didn’t expect to give birth to a holiday baby. But she suspected that he might come early when she started having intermittent contractions the day after Christmas.
"Just a few days ago, I was depressed," she said. "We don’t have lots of material things to give this little guy, but we’re filled with love and blessed by such a wonderful honor."
epyle@dispatch.com
FReeper quote of the day, Nitzy. Glad to have a Columbus neighbor like you!
Yo, Dane! Over here!!
If they were legal immigrants the story would most assuredly have said so. However, if you can find proof that they are legal, and that they paid for their own healthcare or have insurance which did, I will say, "What a nice story."
susie
Anyway, how do you know they are illegal, second did it ever occur to you all that you might court these immigrants with a philosophy of low taxes, family values, and non-governmnet dependence. After all they did make the trip from Mexico seeking a better life.
OOps I forgot to you and others on FR, since they have a Spanish surname they are automatically incapable of embracing conservative political thought.
Well, Dane, let's see. This couple met less than a year ago. They are poor agricultural workers. Four months ago they cross the border specifically fearing a major birth defect may befall their child.
Do you really think these folks filled out all the paperwork, went through the interviews and got fast-tracked into the US?
Dane, if I hadn't seen your foolish rants here on FR too many times, I would simply think you are naive and misguided. But the fact of the matter is that you are a racist apologist for illegal invaders.
Prove me wrong. You can't.
Big-Time Dane nutjob ping here, FRiend.
Why do the baby, mother, and father all have different last names?
Sadly, I see this with our native born folks as well. Usually in child abuse stories.
Those are just the names they chose to use today, tomorrow they can all have different names.
Ain't it great?
Sadly, I see this with our native born folks as well. Usually in child abuse stories.
So true. We have plenty of our own home grown trash, don't we?
Knowing that, our Homeland Security/Immigration officials scratch their wooden heads and decide that our immigrants will also be of questionable, low character, uneducated, dependant types.
And this is good how?
These "immigrants" aren't even married. If they' re illegal they can't get legally married. This guy probably has a wife as well as a kid in Mexico. There are villages after villages empty except for children and old people with no one to care for them.
But we get to pay 99 cents instead of a dollar for lettuce. Who cares who gets exploited.
Nutjob, huh, I ain't the one dissing the birth of a new human life.
I guess you would rather have had the nancy pelosi solution of sucking the brains of the baby out of the womb.
No, I'm dissing the fact that the illegal parents have foisted their progeny on us, the US (and specifically, Ohio) taxpayers. I'm as anti-abortion as they come. That said, this child is Mexican and should have been born in Mexico.
Admit it, Dane. The parents are illegal aliens, they have broken the law, and they do not belong here. Just admit it.
Admit it, Dane. The parents are illegal aliens, they have broken the law, and they do not belong here. Just admit it.
Whew, just replace Mexico or Mexican with Jew, and one could have a 1930's nazi rant, IMO.
Dane, you've outdone yourself. Comparing German (native German) Jews to Mexican invaders of the US. You boggle the mind. You are bordering on insanity.
We need no more immigration from South of the border. Period.
Please Bucky, you are the one proclaiming doom and gloom over a birth of a child who isn't ethnically "pure", ala and IMO, the 1930's nazis.
"My husband was born with a cleft palate," Rodriguez said through an interpreter.
Again, can you address the issue? ILLEGAL! Are you that stupid?
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