President Alberto Fernández and First Lady Fabiola Yañez presented their son, Francisco Fernández, to the media via a live broadcast on Thursday as they left hospital.
Baby Francisco, weighing 3.51 kilogrammes, was born just after 1.20am on Monday, April 11, at the Otamendi Sanatorium by caesarean section, the Presidential Medical Unit (UMP) confirmed in a statement.
"Mrs Fabiola Yáñez was admitted after midnight to the Otamendi Sanatorium with labour contractions that did not progress, for which a caesarean section was performed," said the unit, which oversees the health of the president and first lady.
"The evolution of both the baby and the mother is satisfactory, and both are in perfect health," added the document, signed by the UMP’s director Dr Federico Saavedra.
The president made a brief speech on Thursday from the hospital's entrance after the first lady was discharged.
“Thank you for accompanying us, it is a moment of great happiness,” he expressed, clearly emotional. “These three days I worked from the hospital, I asked my collaborators to come because I wanted to accompany Fabiola."
In a line that won plaudits from supporters on social networks, he added: "We men have to get used to sharing the tasks of caring for our children with our wives.”
“I am happy, content, [his arrival] is an oasis in such a difficult time that we have had to live through,” he added. “He is a joy that God has given us.”
With Francisco in her arms, Yáñez expressed her gratitude to the medical team that treated her during her stay at the Otamendi before presenting her son to the press.
“It is a huge joy, everything went very fast and perfect, the conditions in which he was born were fantastic,” she stated. "We are very happy."
Baby Francisco online
The couple took to Instagram to announce the birth of Francisco on Monday.
"Francisco was born! Mother @fabiolaoficialok and I are immensely happy. Welcome to life!!!" wrote Fernández in a message on Instagram in the early hours of Monday morning. It was accompanied by a picture showing the newborn’s footprints, along with details of the infant’s name and birth.
In her post on Instagram, Yáñez expressed her delight and thanked Argentines for their support during the pregnancy.
“Today, April 11, at 1.21am, our son was born, whom we have been waiting for and loving from day one. We are happy and fortunate to welcome him surrounded by affection in our Argentina.
"We are grateful for all the good wishes that you have sent us during these months, you have supported us a lot. The reality surpasses any of them, we are living a dream that we have long been waiting for and today we embrace with love,” she wrote.
‘Free man’
Yáñez, a journalist and actor, has been the president’s partner since 2013. This is her first child. The first lady previously revealed that the baby was conceived with the help of IVF treatment following the loss of two pregnancies.
Rumours that she was pregnant had initially begun circulating in the aftermath of the 2019 PASO primaries, after she appeared to hold her belly at a public event. The UMP eventually confirmed in a September 23, 2021 statement that a baby was due.
Discussing the infant’s name in a recent interview, Yañez said previously that the presidential couple liked the fact that the name came from the Latin word ‘Francus,’ meaning “free man.”
The 40-year-old also said that the name was also a nod to Pope Francis, the Argentine leader of the Catholic Church, saying that both of them admired the pontiff greatly.
“The name of Francis has a lot to do with the Pope," said Fernández in a recent interview. "It is well known that I am not a practising Catholic, but I do recognise in him a moral leader of enormous stature and it is pleasing that he bears his name, like Francis of Assisi too."
This is the president’s second child. He is also the father of 27-year-old Tani Fernández Luchetti, the result of his relationship with Marcela Luchetti, which ended in 2003.
The birth of Francisco is the first time in a century that an Argentine president has had a baby while in office.
— TIMES/NA/PERFIL/AFP
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