North Texas family welcomes baby Sol, born during the eclipse
FORT WORTH — For one Fort Worth family, Monday's excitement was eclipsed by an even bigger event: the birth of their baby.
Alicia Alvarez gave birth at 1:04 p.m. at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center to Sol Celeste. She came into the world at 6 pounds, 9 ounces - and nine days early.
"I started feeling contractions around 4," Alicia Alvarez said. "I didn't think in my wildest dreams that she would be born during the eclipse."
When Alicia Alvarez's labor pains picked up, their only concern about time was making it to the hospital.
"We ran into a lot of traffic because everybody was going to the eclipse, wanted to see the eclipse," she said. "So it took us about an hour and 30 minutes to get here."
Sol Celeste, whose name means celestial sun in Spanish, made her appearance just as the sun was disappearing.
"I just saw, while she was in the bassinet, that it started turning dark," said Alicia Alvarez.
The Alvarezes actually decided they were going to name her Sol months ago. They chose that because they had named her big sister Luna, which means the moon.
"I wanted something that they could share together. So I loved the continuous name of Sun and Moon, and it was just the continuous love," she said.
Dad Carlos Alvarez, an Army veteran, said he's still marveling at her timely arrival.
"It was really surprising. I didn't wake up that day thinking it was going to be this plus a baby at the same time."
But they know that somehow the stars aligned to give them the sun.
"You're like, 'okay, this must be a bigger purpose behind it' or something that's going on, maybe out of my control," he said.
"The fact that I have a moon already. And now I have a sun and a moon, and then she was born during the eclipse. The odds of that, it's just crazy," said Alicia Alvarez.