While thousands of families in the region celebrated the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl championship on Sunday over the Kansas City Chiefs, there was double excitement within the maternity ward of the Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest, Salisbury Township, as two couples welcomed newborn babies.

Lifelong Eagles fan Christian Benner of Coopersburg and his wife, Samantha, a converted Eagles fan from the Giants, welcomed their daughter, Sutton, during the third quarter of the game, while diehard fans Kelsey and Donny Dudley of Quakertown watched the Super Bowl with their newborn daughter Sophie, according to Jamie L. Stover, manager, media relations marketing and public affairs at the hospital. She shared their stories:

Sutton’s arrival

For the Benners, their first child was due today, but her parents say she didn’t want to miss the victory.

Christian and Samantha said having the game on the television in the background while Samantha was in labor was a good distraction. Evey time they looked at the screen, it seemed, the Eagles scored another touchdown.

Post-delivery, Sutton is doing well, while Christian can’t stop smiling about his double victory.

Samantha awakened on Super Bowl Sunday around 7 a.m. with contractions, saying, “I knew that we were going to have Sutton probably on Super Bowl Sunday, and I ended up having her at 9:38 p.m. during the third quarter.

She said she grew up not really caring about football and met Christian at West Chester University. She was somewhat of a Giants fan, but upon meeting her future husband, “jumped over” to the Eagles, saying, “but I jumped over, just like Saquon, at a really good time. It was 2017.”

As her due date became closer, Samantha said, having Sutton on Super Bowl Sunday “was definitely in the back of my mind and I was like OK, I guess I’ll have a distraction during all of this. At least we have that to look forward to.”

Christian said, “We were going to win no matter what.”

He said, “It was actually nice not even having to listen to commentators, because sometimes I even get bothered by them, so I think it was more relaxing, just watching it on mute.”

Samantha added, “Yeah, it was a weird relaxing setting to watch the Super Bowl.”

Sutton’s arrival, naturally, “thoroughly distracted” the couple’s interest in the game, although Samantha said, “After her arrival, and once everything kind of settled down, we were just glancing back at the TV, we were like, wow! I think we’re going to win this.”

Christian added, “(We’re) Diehard Eagles fan over here. She had to be born on this day so she couldn’t miss it.”

Celebrating with Sophie

When the Dudleys welcomed Sophie on the Super Bowl, it set the stage for a celebration at the hospital, where Kelsey is a physical therapist.

Sophie arrived on Saturday evening, earlier than expected, and family members brought Eagles gear and décor to LVH so the first-time parents could enjoy the game at the hospital.

Donny said Sophie was a lot calmer than he was during the game and that she was awake at the end when the Birds officially secured the Lombardi Trophy.

The couple, whose second date was watching an Eagles game, said waiting for Sophie at home is an Eagles onesie, the first thing they bought for her before she was born.

Kelsey said Sophie’s arrival was a “real whirlwind, because she came earlier than expected, too, so it was already a stressful weekend going in, knowing that the Super Bowl was happening and that, hey, you’re having your baby too.”

She said Sophie wasn’t expected to arrive until Feb. 20, to which Donny said, “Yeah, we figured we had time.”

But the mother said, “Right when February hit, a lot of people, our friends and family, knowing how big of Eagles fans we are, specifically Donny, were predicting she was going to come Super Bowl Sunday, just because, he is very superstitious about how he watches his Eagles games, and everyone’s like, it’s going to throw off your routine. You’re going to be watching it in the hospital.”

Asked how much he loves the Eagles, Donny said, “A lot. I hate to say it but it’s my personality sometimes.”

He said the “watch party” at the hospital “started out fine, and then it got a little bit more stressful as it came down to the game time. She was really calm though the whole time. She just kind of ate. But it was really nice being able to hold her at the end of the game and share that moment with her.”

He added, “It was like surreal ... after 2018 it was hard to see it happening again, and then I don’t know, just being able to have this little baby and she’s never experienced it. I had to wait 20-something years for it, and she gets to see it. She’s 23-hours-old. It was just cool. It was just cool to share it with her.”

Kelsey was overjoyed with family members bringing Eagles presents to the hospital. She said, “They brought us balloons. They brought us a sign that said Fly Sophie Fly. So, they changed all the Eagles chants, all the Eagles stuff on there to be about Sophie. They brought Donny a cheesesteak too for after delivery, so she was off to a good start to being an Eagles fan.”