Proud parents Mabdial Escalante, left, and Catarina Orozco show off their daughter, Kathy Pedro Orozco, on Sunday at Erlanger hospital.Catarina Orozco wasn't due to have her third child until Jan. 9, but an early delivery turned out to be nice timing for Mom and especially for Dad.
Kathy Pedro Orozco arrived at 6:12 a.m. Sunday morning at Erlanger hospital in time to be Chattanooga's first baby of the year, and in time to meet her father, Mabdial Escalante, who commutes home to Chattanooga on the weekends from his job in Georgia.
"I don't know how to explain it," Escalante said. "We're so excited. We were at home with our family and friends waiting until midnight. Then her pain started more and more. Then I told everyone we were going to have a baby tonight. They were all excited. Now she's here."
Kathy is the couple's third child and first girl. She slept peacefully in her mother's hospital room Sunday afternoon after entering the world weighing 6 pounds and 7 ounces.
"I was about to cry when I first saw her," Escalante said.
Escalante said he jumped around cheering when Catarina first told him the couple's child was going to be a girl.
Orozco added through a translator that she was happy God gave her a little girl.
Escalante said he will tell Kathy when she's older that the family was on TV because she was Chattanooga's first baby of 2017.
"It's a surprise," he said, "and a blessing from God for me and my wife."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.