As Chris and Gina Tarr settled in to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, the couple started to get nervous about what was going to transpire.

But it wasn’t the game they were most anxious about.

Instead, Gina went into labor about five hours before kickoff and the couple rushed to West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield to deliver their first child.

“It was the perfect storm,” Chris Tarr said. “The Steelers game kept me distracted so I wasn’t so stressed out. It took the edge off. If I was watching the Super Bowl and they were losing, I would’ve been upset. It made it even keel.”

The delivery doctor initially thought the baby would be born in the early morning hours Monday, but little Eli William decided to make his appearance just as the game ended.

“Almost exactly when they were handing the Packers the Lombardi Trophy,” Tarr said.

Meanwhile, relatives of the Upper St. Clair couple rushed from their various Super Bowl parties to be with the family at the hospital.  Tarr’s brother, Greg, said the family ate pizza and watched the Super Bowl on a 19-inch television in the waiting room.

“We were kinda bummed out (about the game),” Greg Tarr said. “Then a half-hour later you’re dealing with completely different emotions.”

Chris Tarr said he was able to watch portions of the game between the contractions – “It was a tennis match of eyes” - but his wife and the doctor were focused solely on the task at hand. Eli was born a health 7 pounds, 15 ounces at 10:34 p.m.

Tarr said that mom and baby are now home and doing “fantastic” even after the disappointing Super Bowl loss.

“Regardless of what happened, we’ll still be winners,” he said. “I would still be down in the dumps, but we don’t have time to think about that. It was the best day of our lives.”