Fountain Valley: A Nice Place to Be Born

You may have noticed more regional news lately on Fountain Valley Patch—or at least I hope you have. Well, there's a perfectly good reason for the shortage of local news lately: I've been on paternity leave since my wife and I welcomed our twin sons the morning of Sept. 25.

But I haven't abandoned my post; after all, the boys were born at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center right here in Fountain Valley. Javier John came first at 8:30 a.m., and weighed in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. His not-so-little brother, Ruben Agustin, came two minutes later and weighed in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Mom and babies are all settling in famously after four days at the hospital, where we were all treated like royalty by Orange Coast's amazing staff.

As for Dad, I've discovered that being a new parent, especially with twins, is a little like a weekend bender in Las Vegas: You're never really sure what day it is, let alone what time, you're never all the way asleep or awake, and you wake up with scratches and bruises that you can't explain. But you wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

I'll be back on the job toward the end of this month, so in the meantime, please take this opportunity to help my colleagues keep the site fresh by submitting plenty of story ideas, photos and announcements. Or better yet, sign up to become one of our Local Voices bloggers! See you soon!