A family affair: Mom welcomes baby in building grandfather helped design

When Maria Sivils and her husband, Dr. Jake Sivils, welcomed their first child, daughter Elliott, in November 2022, they did so in a place with special significance.

Elliott was born at Ascension St. Vincent’s Women and Children’s Center in Birmingham. Maria’s father, Eddy Alonso, helped design the building.

“We have some great connections back to the facility,” Alonso said. “We were really excited.”

Alonso said he had fun designing the building, which included collaborating with staff and incorporating the history of St. Vincent’s into the center. The center opened in the late 1990s, a few years after Maria was born.

“It was my first project and I was really excited to be working with the staff there,” Alonso said.

Alonso also welcomed Maria at St. Vincent’s, in the women’s center at the main hospital. He was wrapping up design on the new facility at the time. Her brother and sister, twins, were born in the new facility, he said.

Maria said she had a very different perspective on the center where she would eventually have her first child, watching her dad work on it when she was growing up.

“I remember as a kid, watching my dad, who had the whole program on his laptop for work,” she said.

The Sivils, who now live in Vestavia Hills, met while in Mississippi and married in 2019, Maria said. They discovered her hometown of Birmingham was the best place for their family. Jake found a job at the Ascension St. Vincent's Primary Care Mayfair in Homewood.

“It’s a really awesome experience,” Jake said. “I’m grateful to have a position here.”

Elliott has been a “very easy” baby, Maria said.

“She’s been so sweet and eats well and sleeps well,” Maria said. “... It’s been a really sweet experience.”

Alonso said he’s been able to help out as well, as he now works from home part of the time. Maria said the family is glad to have planted roots in Birmingham.

“It’s all very full circle,” she said.