Simi family in seventh heaven
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

LUCKY 7S- Simi Valley parents Elena and Casey Pullman hold their newborn baby girl, Aveya Grace Pullman, who was born on 7/07/07 at 7 a.m. at Simi Valley Hospital.

When Elena Pullman went into labor last week, she had no idea that she and her husband Casey would become the proud parents of possibly the luckiest baby in Simi Valley.

Aveya Grace Pullman was born at 7:07 a.m. on 7/07/07 at Simi Valley Hospital, weighing a healthy 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

While many had circled that day on their calendars months and even years in advance for weddings and other celebrations, the circumstances of Aveya's birth came as a complete surprise.

"It was meant to be," Elena said. "She's beautiful."

Aveya's timing did not come easily, however. Elena started feeling contractions on her own birthday, July 5, more than a week after the baby's June 27 due date.

She said that after that day, "Every day was a wait."

Her water broke at 2:30 a.m. July 6, and early on July 7 Aveya was out for all to see. Elena was in labor for a total of 55 hours, she said.

Aveya Grace Pullman

A few minutes before Aveya was born, a nurse at the hospital first mentioned the idea to the Pullmans that their daughter could be born at 7:07.

"It's funny because I didn't even put it together until I was about to push," Elena said. "At that point I just wanted to have her, and when it actually happened, it was like, 'Oh, my goodness!'"

The Pullmans said they never planned for it to happen that way, and they thought Aveya would end up being born on Elena's birthday.

"She waited," said Robin Sota, Aveya's grandmother. "She wanted to be lucky."

The Pullmans had Aveya's name picked out before she was born. It's derived from a Hebrew name, explained Elena, who was asked if the timing of her first child's birth had any significance to her.

"I don't know if I would say she'll bring us luck, but she's going to bring us a lot of happiness," Elena said.