LIBERTYVILLE – It was a long road for Dina Fiorelli and Rudy Navarro, but the Libertyville couple finally welcomed the baby they’ve wanted for years.
It just so happens that baby – 7-pound, 10-ounce Giada Maria Navarro – is one of Lake County’s first babies of 2022.
Measuring 20 inches, Giada was born at 4:59 a.m. Jan. 1 as the first baby of the year at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.
Fiorelli had checked into the hospital to be induced Dec. 29, expecting to have the baby by the next day.
“I never thought we would still be here how many days later, let alone having the first baby of the year,” she said Jan. 3, hours before she and Navarro planned to bring Giada home.
“It was a really long process. We missed the ball drop at New Year’s Eve. She decided she wanted to make her appearance after that.”
Fiorelli thought she heard a baby crying down the hospital hall just after midnight on New Year’s Day, but it actually was the sounds of New Year’s Eve noisemakers.
Giada comes as a blessing in many ways.
“It’s just such a chaotic world,” Fiorelli said. “We’re just grateful she’s here and she’s healthy and we’re happy. It’s nice to see what joy it’s brought to family and friends. Everyone is super excited for us.”
Together for nearly 20 years and married for nine years, Fiorelli and Navarro always wanted a family, Navarro said, but it ended being a long journey.
“We’ve kind of been that couple that everyone thought was just loving their life too much they didn’t want a family,” he said. “That wasn’t the case. I guess good things come to those who are patient.”
He said they ironically recently watched the 2008 movie “Four Christmases,” starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. The movie tells the story of a couple who regularly travels abroad during the holidays. When their flight is canceled, they end up being interviewed by a news crew and must visit family instead. Similar to Fiorelli and Navarro, the movie couple ends up welcoming their first child as the first baby of the year on New Year’s Day.
“Everyone thinks we’re probably Vince and Reece, loving life and traveling. During a lot of holidays, we would travel because it was ideal for our work schedule. It was, ‘Family, we love ya, we’re going to Europe,’“ Navarro said.
Life will be a bit different now, but they couldn’t be happier, he said.
“We’re very excited to adapt to that new life,” Navarro said. “I am very excited and a little terrified, but I think it will feel good to be in our own house and start to live our new life.”
He and his wife praised everyone at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, and said they felt so much positivity around them.
“Going through everything in the world right now that’s so crazy and hectic, even though it’s been a challenge navigating COVID and everything, it’s just been very special heading into the new year,” he said.
“What a little girl’s smile can bring to everyone … it’s been a reminder to everyone to understand things are never as bad as you think they are, and tomorrow’s a new day. Just stay as positive as possible.”
At Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, a Mundelein couple welcomed another of Lake County’s first babies of 2022. Preferring not to be interviewed or provide full names, Rani and Surendar welcomed a 6-pound,15-ounce baby boy measuring 10 inches in length at 2:44 a.m. Jan. 1. The baby boy has one sister.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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