After three boys, Julia Miranda De Leon was ready to have a daughter. But instead, the mother of Lee County’s first baby of 2020, made it four in a row.
Andrea Melendez/The News-Press
The first baby born in Lee County, Luis Eduardo was born at 3:50 a.m. New Year's Day to parents Julia Miranda De Leon and Luis Alberto De Leon Nix at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers.
Miranda De Leon, sitting up in her hospital bed at HealthPark Medical Center, took it in stride Wednesday.
“It was what God wanted and that’s what I got,” she said with the help of a Spanish translator.
Luis Eduardo, weighing in at 6 pounds and 9 ounces, was born at 3:50 a.m. Wednesday. His mother rang in the New Year at the hospital, arriving there at midnight, fireworks streaking across the sky as the decade drew to a close.
Andrea Melendez/The News-Press
The first baby born in Lee County, Luis Eduardo was born at 3:50 a.m. New Year's Day to parents Julia Miranda De Leon and Luis Alberto De Leon Nix at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers.
Miranda De Leon, 32, of Fort Myers, didn’t have a name at first for her newest family addition, but soon picked Luis Eduardo. Not only does he now share a name with his father, Luis Alberto De Leon Nix, but his mother can already see the resemblance.
“Right now you probably can’t see a lot, but in the future you’ll be able to see he looks like him,” she said, Alberto De Leon Nix, 22, standing by her side.
Both pregnancy and delivery went swimmingly for Miranda De Leon.
“She says it was very fast and she was very impressed that it didn’t really take much of her to have this birth," said Ivette Vega Santiago, an obstetrics nurse at the hospital, translating for Miranda De Leon.
The eventful night appeared to have taken the most out of her 3-year-old son Ezquiel. He slept soundly on a makeshift bed on the hospital room floor, his body wrapped in a blanket dotted with white stars, as reporters gathered around his newest brother.
Although at first “a little jealous,” according to his mother, when his little brother was born, Ezquiel — who had been awake since the family arrived at the hospital — was now catching up on some much-needed sleep. Not even cookies from the nurses could keep him awake.
Andrea Melendez/The News-Press
Ezquiel, 3, finally sleeps, after spending all night in the hospital as his brother was born. The first baby born in Lee County was born at 3:50 a.m. Luis Eduardo was born early New Year's Day to parents Julia Miranda De Leon and Luis Alberto De Leon Nix at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers.
“He doesn’t even know what’s going on,” said Vega Santiago.
Despite having longed for a girl, Miranda De Leon said her fourth will be her last. The stay-at-home mom said she now wants to continue to fight for a better life for her family.
“I’m happy and very emotional,” Miranda De Leon said.
Connect with the reporter at patrick.riley@naplesnews.com or on Twitter @PatJRiley.