One week before her daughter was due to be born, Maria Villasenor’s water broke while at a check-up appointment at Kaiser Permanente on Skyline Road on Dec. 31.  Within an hour, she and her husband were at Salem Hospital’s Family Birth Center, where she gave birth on New Year’s Day at 10:08 a.m., making her the hospital’s first baby of 2025. Villasenor and her husband Andres Guzman named their daughter Eliana. Eliana’s name means “God has answered,” which reflects the blessing Villasenor and Guzman felt their daughter was. The couple lives in Salem with their family, and Villasenor is a medical technician at a residential care facility and Guzman works in food retail.  “We went through I want to say, a few months trying but nothing, we couldn’t get pregnant,” Villasenor, 24, said. “Then when we least expected it and we stopped trying, is when I found out I was pregnant with her.” She said they originally were going to name their daughter Ellie, but instead found Eliana, and the name’s meaning felt right. After finding out she was pregnant in the middle of May last year, Villasenor said she it felt unreal to her.  “It was scary at first, because it’s been so long since I was pregnant, but it was very exciting, very sweet,” she said. It had been several years since her first pregnancy with her son, Favian, who is now 7. This pregnancy became real when she saw her first ultrasound, she said. During her pregnancy, which she described as tough, she experienced lower back pain and other typical pregnancy pains.  “After labor, after I finally had her on my chest, everything was all worth it,” Villasenor said. The day after Eliana was born, her older brother Favian saw her for the first time and cried, according to a Salem Health announcement. “He’s very, very excited about being involved in everything and wanting to make sure she’s okay and always wanting to take pictures and stuff of her,” she said. Favian has already become a protective big brother, but also a curious one since he’s never been around a baby before. Favian, 7, with his little sister Eliana after meeting her for the first time. (Courtesy/Salem Health” When Eliana was born, she weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce. Now, she is sleeping plenty, which allows Villasenor to rest and adjust to the new addition to her family’s routine.  “She’s honestly a very chill baby, she’s very good,” Villasenor said. “She is great at eating, she sleeps amazing, she has a lot of hair and little dimples. Everything is just okay.” Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post First baby born at Salem Hospital in 2025 answered local couple’s prayers appeared first on Salem Reporter.