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New year, new life

Avery Steven Shapiro Bach was fashionably late joining the world. Due Dec. 27, he waited six days, putting his mother through 50 hours of labor, before he was born at 7:51 a.m. on Jan. 2, making him the first Sonoman born at Sonoma Valley Hospital in 2013.

He is the first child of excited, but understandably exhausted, parents Hannah Shapiro, 25, and Trevor Bach, 29. He weighed a healthy 8 pounds, 14.5 ounces and measured in at 22.25 inches.

“He’s a big baby, bigger than anyone was expecting,” Shapiro said, explaining that after 50 hours of labor, Dr. Paul Amara called for a caesarean section to protect her health.

Bach added, “She’s only 5 (foot) 1 (inch), there was no more room in her.”

Avery was born into excellent company, his proud parents said, because two couples close to Bach and Shapiro were also in the Birthplace at Sonoma Valley Hospital having their own children.

“We were walking around visiting each other, giving out lots of hug,” Bach said.

“My friend Ashley had the last baby born in 2012, and then we had the first baby born in 2013,” Shapiro said of friend Ashley Robertson and Tommy Doyle’s new son.

It was a fitting finale, as she and Robertson both work at Maya Restaurant and helped each other through their first pregnancies. Bach works for Blu Homes on Mare Island.

The couple selected the name Avery after pouring over baby book names, seeking something unique. “It’s a name that sounds sensitive,” Bach said.

His middle name was given in honor of his maternal grandfather, Steve Shapiro, who along with wife, Anne, was delighted to greet their first grandchild. Danielle Sattler is Avery’s doting aunt.

The couple is engaged with plans to marry in the future, but are currently content to settle into their new roles as parents. “We figured we’d just have the baby first,” Bach laughed.