It was as if Andrew Damian Echevarria had made up his mind to be
the first baby born in Hollister of the new year.
Arriving a month early, he was born on New Year’s Day at 1:54
a.m. at Hazel Hawkins Hospital, after his mother, Erika Rodriguez,
endured more than nine hours of labor.
It was as if Andrew Damian Echevarria had made up his mind to be the first baby born in Hollister of the new year.
Arriving a month early, he was born on New Year’s Day at 1:54 a.m. at Hazel Hawkins Hospital, after his mother, Erika Rodriguez, endured more than nine hours of labor.
After the 5-pound, 2-ounce boy was born, he was taken several hours later by ambulance to a hospital in San Jose because of his premature status, said his father Andrew Echevarria.
“He was breathing on his own but every once in a while he’d stop, but he’d come back up,” Echevarria said. “They just wanted to be able to watch him for a while.”
Rodriguez was taken to the hospital by her family Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. when she began having pains and didn’t know what they were from, Echevarria said.
When she arrived, the doctor examined her and said she was already dilated to five centimeters, and that she would be delivering the baby early, he said.
Her doctor contemplated sending Rodriguez to San Jose because the facilities are better equipped for possible complications, but ultimately decided to keep her in Hollister, Echevarria said.
“She kept dilating and her water never broke, so right before she got to about nine and a half centimeters the doctor came in and he popped it,” Echevarria said. “And a couple hours later that’s when the baby came.”
Rodriguez wasn’t expecting to have a New Year’s baby, but she was happy that he came when he did, she said.
They named the baby Andrew after his father, Rodriguez said.
“His middle name’s Damian, because she liked Damian,” Echevarria said, “but I wanted an Andrew.”
Rodriguez, a 17-year-old San Andreas High School student, plans on home-schooling the rest of her education and living at her parents’ house, who will help her with the baby, she said.
Both her and Echevarria, 21, who works at Hollister Auto Parts, plan on raising the baby in Hollister, they said.
