Hollister
– When Eddie and Veronica Ventura pulled into Hazel Hawkins
Memorial Hospital in the wee hours of Jan. 1, they knew their baby
was coming early, but they didn’t realize how early.
Hollister – When Eddie and Veronica Ventura pulled into Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in the wee hours of Jan. 1, they knew their baby was coming early, but they didn’t realize how early.
Eddie Ventura recalled that after dropping his wife off at the emergency room, he was told he needed to repark his pickup truck. He went outside, moved his truck and re-entered the building.
As he walked into hospital, he could already hear his baby crying.
“The whole delivery happened within a few minutes,” he said.
Shakira Hope Ventura, Hollister’s first baby of 2007, was born at 1:11am Jan. 1. She weighed five pounds, four ounces.
“She’s a special baby – the miracle of 2007,” said Maggie Garcia, the baby girl’s aunt.
Despite its speed, Shakira’s birth wasn’t easy – she was born almost a month early, and there were complications, Ventura said.
About three hours after giving birth, Veronica Ventura was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, where she’s still recovering.
The baby, Ventura said, had to remain at Hazel Hawkins, but she was released on Wednesday, and Ventura was able to bring Shakira to her mother.
“(The mother’s) going to be fine,” Ventura said. “Things have been stressful, but it’s good now.”
The baby shares her name with the popular singer Shakira, which Ventura said is not a coincidence. His wife was reading a magazine and saw that the singer’s hair matched their four-year-old daughter’s.
“At the last minute, my wife wanted to back out, but I said that our daughter has been calling the baby Shakira, so we can’t change it now,” Ventura said.
The Venturas came to Hollister two years ago from Watsonville. Eddie Ventura said his job as a house painter takes him all over the region.
When asked about the baby’s future, Ventura said he has simple goals.
“I just want her to go to school,” he said. “I just want her to have a good life.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
