A 133,224 to 1 shot: Temecula family defies the odds
By: LAURI A. LOCKWOOD - Staff Writer
TEMECULA -- What are the odds?
Erin and Allan Paez just brought their fourth son into the world
Monday. Kellen Reigh Paez was delivered
just after 6 a.m. in the driveway of a relative's home in Temecula --
and that isn't even the surprising part.
Kellen was born July 30.
So? you might say.
Their second child, Rory Allan Paez, was born on that date in 2002.
Not bizarre enough yet?
Their third child, Aidan Rory Paez, was born on that same date in 2003.
That makes three -- count 'em three -- of their four sons who were born
on July 30.
In case you were wondering, the odds of having three children on the
same date are 133,224 to 1.
Why did this happen? Don't expect a solid answer from Allan Paez.
"I have no idea," he said in a telephone interview from his wife's
hospital room on Tuesday. "It's not
anything we planned, that's for sure."
As a matter of fact, doctors didn't expect Kellen to arrive until Aug.
20. "But I guess he wanted to come
out," the proud father said.
Paez was on his way to work early Monday morning when he got the call
from his wife saying he should
turn around.
"I zipped back home and picked her up," he said. They headed to a
relative's house to drop off their other
young sons, but didn't have time to make it to the hospital before
Kellen made his entrance.
Paez said they called an ambulance to meet them at his sister-in-law's
home, and their youngest son was
born in the driveway there immediately after his wife was moved out of
their car and onto a gurney.
A San Diego County sheriff's deputy who works out of the San Marcos
station, Paez said that because
of his job he has been trained to deliver a baby.
"But I didn't want to have to deliver my baby," he said, laughing.
The July 30 saga began five years ago with Rory's birth. Unfortunately,
the infant died the same day from
complications of childbirth.
One year to the day later, his brother Aidan was born. And four years
after that they now have Kellen.
"You have one bad thing that happens and then you have two miracles
that happen on the same day," Allan
said. "Something good came out of something bad."
Aidan, who's now 4, seemed to understand the significance of his
younger brother's arrival, Allan said.
But how could he not?
"I said: Happy birthday, you got a little brother," Allan said.
On Tuesday, Allan took Aidan and his other son, 6-year-old Devon, to
visit their mother and Kellen in the
hospital. He said wife Erin seemed to feel that maybe the situation was
more than coincidence. "She was
telling me yesterday, 'You need to go to Vegas,'" Allan said.
The text above is from a newspaper article published on the front page
of The Californian,
a Riverside
County edition of the North County
Times. The photos were taken by my daughter, Heather Ahlberg.)
Copyright © 2007, by Rich McCormack
Send comments and questions to macknet@pacbell.net
Back Home