Both! Welcome to the world Aemari and Edgar! May good fortune and luck smile on you both.
Two New Year's babies born at midnight at same hospital
J. Michael Parker: San Antonio Express-News
J. Michael Parker: San Antonio Express-News
Midnight magic struck for not one but two women who spent New Year's Eve counting down the minutes waiting for their babies to be born.
Aemari Christopher Brown and Edgar Norberto Benavides were delivered simultaneously on the stroke of midnight at Baptist Medical Center downtown. They were greeted by happy hospital personnel and became instant celebrities as the official first San Antonio babies born in 2008.
Aemari weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 18 inches long; Edgar weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long.
Hospital spokeswoman Karen May said it's the first time in her memory that the hospital has had two babies born precisely at midnight as the new year began.
Gifts donated by various San Antonio health care systems and a $10,000 scholarship donated by the University of the Incarnate Word were ready for delivery to one baby but will be given to both.
The gifts include two car seats, two Sears photo packages, two Target gift cards, two days of Nix Private Care, two $150 gift certificates to Babies “R” Us and two new baby gift baskets.
The hospital staff hadn't expected both women to deliver at midnight but they were delighted, too.
The hospital staff hadn't expected both women to deliver at midnight but they were delighted, too.
“Since it's New Year's Day, we're scrambling to get the gifts together for both families. But this is a happy kind of ‘problem' to have,” May said.
Ashley Brown and Esmeralda Benavides said Tuesday that they hadn't known about each other delivering at the same time. Dr. Henry Chen, the obstetrician for both women, was tending to Brown while two registered nurses delivered Benavides' baby, May said.
Brown said Aemari wasn't due until Jan. 8, but she's happy he arrived on New Year's Day.
“I was in labor about 12 or 13 hours. When I was ready to push, the doctor said to hold on a little longer. I don't know how we made it, but we did,” she said.
“I was in labor about 12 or 13 hours. When I was ready to push, the doctor said to hold on a little longer. I don't know how we made it, but we did,” she said.
She's hoping her son will be famous.
“But I want him to go to school,” Brown said. “Then he can do whatever he wants to do.”
She said she chose his name to be similar to that of his sister, Aemani, 2.
Hector Benavides acted as interpreter as his wife said in Spanish that she had expected her baby either Tuesday or today, but certainly not on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
She said she chose his name to be similar to that of his sister, Aemani, 2.
Hector Benavides acted as interpreter as his wife said in Spanish that she had expected her baby either Tuesday or today, but certainly not on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
“We didn't have time to say ‘Happy New Year,' we were so focused on the baby,” he said.
The couple had never expected such a meaningful gift, Hector Benavides said.
“It's something you just can't imagine happening to you — like a dream,” he said. “We're going to give him the best love we can and prepare him for his future.”
“It's something you just can't imagine happening to you — like a dream,” he said. “We're going to give him the best love we can and prepare him for his future.”
Edgar's brothers — Marcos Esteban, 11; and Jovani Josea, 7 — had hoped for a baby sister, their father said. But they, too, joined in the celebration.
“Whatever God gave us, we're all happy,” the beaming father said.
