As expectations go for expecting mothers, Elena Gonzalez knew her third child could have been a Christmas or New Year’s baby. Her due date was right around Christmas, but her first two children were born about a week late.
This week, tradition continued for Gonzalez, whose child Alana was born the night of Jan. 2 and became the first baby of the new year in San Benito County. Once again, she was about a week late.
“I was happy because it was a surprise for me, that I was the first one,” Gonzalez said.
Alana Gonzalez was born at 10:45 p.m. Monday. She was born at 7 pounds, 11.8 ounces and was 19 inches long, according to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
She is the third child for Gonzalez and her husband, who had just left to take care of the other two children – a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl – on Tuesday afternoon when she talked about having the county’s first baby of 2012.
Gonzalez and her family have lived in the Hollister area for about a year, she said Tuesday while holding Alana, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a purple cap.
As Gonzalez reflected about the experience, she also had another surprise. As is tradition at the hospital, received a large bag full of gifts presented by Frankie Gallagher, the director of marketing and public relations at Hazel Hawkins, which delivers about 50 babies per month.
“This is from the hospital staff and the nursing staff here, the O.B. nurses,” Gallagher told Gonzalez. “There’s all kinds of cool stuff here.”
Gonzalez’s hopes for Alana, meanwhile, are the same as those for her other two children.
“To take care well of her, and the others too,” she said.
