By PAUL BALCERAK

Staff writer

Christina Perez had a feeling she’d be spending New Year’s Eve in labor with her son, Christian Michael Obregon-Perez. What she wasn’t expecting was that he’d be the first baby born in Central Kitsap in 2008.

“The night before, I told Fernando (the father), ‘We’re gonna be at the hospital in the next 24 hours; this is gonna be our little tax baby,’” she said.

Sure enough, she started having contractions New Year’s Eve morning at about 7 a.m. But it wasn’t till 12:40 a.m. New Year’s Day that Christian was delivered via Caesarean section at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale.

After more than 12 hours of labor, doctors decided there was no way Perez was going to have a natural birth.

“The doctor came back in and said he’s too big,” Perez said. “I was scared thinking, ‘Oh my God, a C-section.’”

Christian is a big baby at 10 pounds, 14 ounces — slightly bigger than his sister, 9-year-old Ciara, was when she was born. She weighed in at about 9 1/2 pounds.

The newborn’s full name is taken from a television guitar player and his uncle, Fernando’s brother.

“We could not agree upon a baby’s name,” Perez said. “All of a sudden, Christian Castro (a Mariachi guitar player the couple saw on TV) comes on and Fernando said, ‘Christian’s gonna be his name,’ and I was like, ‘Yep.’”

They both thought Christian looked like his uncle, Michael, the minute he was born, hence his middle name.

The family was finally able to leave the hospital Thursday afternoon for some much needed rest and relaxation. The last few days were hectic enough with the arrival of their new child, but the added attention and excitement caused by Christian’s apparent good timing have made things even busier.

“It’s kind of crazy. Definitely exciting, though,” Perez said. “All my family was running around trying to get as many (news) papers as they could.”

Christian’s “first of the new year” status also made up for the small jackpot they would’ve hit if he had been born on New Year’s Eve, giving his parents a tax credit for 2007, she said.

The family was set to join Ciara on Thursday afternoon, after heading home from the hospital.

“She’s so excited about having her brother,” Perez said.

Christian will have a lot to learn in the next few years, from all three of his new family members. The family’s household speaks three different languages and Ciara, who was born deaf, also is able to read lips. Christian will grow up learning English, Spanish and Signed Exact English, a form of sign language that Perez taught Ciara when she was a child.

“I’m gonna teach him just like I taught her,” she said.

For now, though, the family is just looking forward to slowing things down for a while.

Perez was understandably fatigued after her ordeal, but Fernando looked equally exhausted and had only a one-word response when asked to sum up the last few days’ events: “Tiring.”

“He has had a total — ’cause I’ve counted it — of four hours of sleep (since New Year’s Eve),” Perez said on Thursday. “The baby will make a noise and he’s right there.”