Couple's seventh child is first local baby of 2011


A Columbus couple welcomed their seventh child, a baby girl, on New Year’s Day at The Medical Center.

Abel Mendoza and his wife, Maria Hernandez, are the proud parents of Quetzali Mendoza, who was the first baby born in the Columbus area at 1:40 a.m. Saturday. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was 19½ inches long.

Five of the couple’s other children also were born in Columbus. They plan to continue living in Columbus, where Abel has worked as brick mason for the last 11 years. He was working a temporary job before finding work in the area.


Neither Abel, 32, nor his wife Maria, 33, speaks English. Myrtha Alejandro-Perez, a nurse at the hospital, served as an interpreter as the couple talked about their daughter’s big day.

The mother said she had no clue that she would deliver on New Year’s Day when they came to the hospital Friday.

When asked how it felt to have her second daughter on the first day of 2011, Maria said, “It’s super good.â€