David "The Freight Train" Peralta opens up on he and wife Jordan becoming first-time parents with the birth of their daughter, Sofia "Lil' Freight Train" Peralta.
D-BACKS: Walk us through your birthday, or should we say, Sofia's birthday?
DAVID PERALTA: Man, it was pretty amazing. That whole day is a blur for me, it happened so fast. I told my wife that even had we tried to do it that way, where Sofia was born on my birthday, there's no way we could have planned for that to happen.
The due date was Aug. 25. I remember during the game on Aug. 13, I got a call during the game and one of our trainers said that my wife was in the hospital. First thing I asked was if she was OK because, theoretically, we still had two more weeks. I ran down the tunnel and called her during the game to make sure she was OK and she said she was, but she was pretty sure her water broke, so I told her I'd be there as soon as the game was over.
I'll be honest, during the rest of that game I couldn't concentrate. How could I, you know? I needed to be there for my team, but my wife needed me to get to the hospital so it was a lot of emotions at that time. Once the game ended, I called her to let her know I was coming and I changed faster than I ever have before. I was so excited, we had been waiting for so long. We had to spend all night trying to get her to deliver the baby but Sofia wasn't ready, so I stayed up all night waiting with Jordan until 6 a.m. on my birthday. I was thinking, 'Of course she waited for it to be my birthday, too.' So, it was a pretty special day for me. I got tons of texts and phone calls from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday, but also to congratulate us.
It was definitely the best day of my life, and the best birthday present anybody could have ever given me. There's no way I'll ever forget that birthday.
D-BACKS: Did any D-backs players reach out to give you advice?
PERALTA: Absolutely. I talked to [Paul Goldschmidt], Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Nick Ahmed. ... They all have babies of their own, and they all told me it was going to be great and that I needed to focus on enjoying every chance I could with Sofia. Time goes really fast as a Major League Baseball player, even before you have a kid. They told me how at the beginning, it was going to be a challenge for me to make all the adjustments.
A lot of them told me to be ready for diapers. I was even talking to Jeff Mathis about it, and he told me that time with family is short in this game and once you have a child, you'll want to cherish every second you can at home with your family, so I'm doing that. He also warned me about how sleeping time is much shorter, but it would be worth it and that I'd even start looking forward to waking up early to feed my baby and it's true. ... It's the best feeling in the world.
D-BACKS: What has been the biggest surprise for you since Sofia was born?
PERALTA: Let me tell you something. ... When it's your child, everything is a little easier than you think it's going to be. I was pretty worried about if I'd be good at feeding her, if I'd be good at changing diapers, if I'd be good at carrying her because she's so little. … So that first time doing everything was huge because I saw that it wasn't as bad as I thought.
And now, she's only a few weeks old and I'm really good. I'm changing diapers super fast and feeding her is no problem. I've been telling my wife to wait for me to get home so I could feed her. I love doing that. Actually, that's the one thing Goldy taught me. Every night when the game is over, he told me I'd change as fast as I could so I could get home and take care of her, and it's true. I'm always texting my wife, 'Don't feed her, I'm on my way, I want to do it.' I ask my wife all the time, too, if I'm doing a good job and she always tells me that I am. It's really nice to hear that too, because I really want to be the best dad I can to Sofia.
The only thing that is affected is my sleeping time, honestly. When you get up two or three times every night to feed her or hold her until she sleeps, that's the only real challenge. She came to her first game during the last Giants series and she hung out with some of my teammates, and everything was great.
D-BACKS: Have you had the chance to take her anywhere or do any father-daughter activities?
PERALTA: Absolutely. With my schedule it's tough, but on the off-day we took her for her first trip to the mall. She was great, she was looking all over and it was really fun to watch. She came to her first game to see me play which was a great feeling. My wife and I have taken her to dinner, too, and she's great, she really is a great baby. She doesn't cry very much and she sleeps all the time. We can take her everywhere because she just sleeps. ... All the time.
D-BACKS: How did you guys choose Sofia's name? What went into it?
PERALTA: We loved the name and agreed on that a while ago. It's funny because my wife wanted to call her Sophia with a 'ph.' But I told her that we had to use an 'f' because she's going to be half-Latin, so she had to have a Latin name, and Jordan totally agreed with that. Her middle name is Elizabeth and we got that from my wife's great-grandmother, I think. Jordan wanted that and I thought it was perfect. Sofia Elizabeth Peralta, I love it.