Mel Gibson thinks baby Lucia is the beginning of a new life for him'

Over the weekend, Radar broke the news that Oksana Grigorieva had given birth to Mel Gibson's love child last Friday, one week ago. A day after that report surfaced, Mel's rep confirmed the news, and announced that Oksana and Mel had named the baby girl Lucia, and that mother and child were doing well. While I don't doubt any of that - that Oksana gave birth, the name, that everybody's healthy, I do think there's something fishy in the water. But after the Enquirer has spread some really nasty stuff around about Mel and Oksana, they're now singing a different tune. According to the Enquirer, Mel is thrilled' with the baby, and he thinks this is the beginning of a new life for him'. Oh, really?

After a tough year struggling with the fallout from the collapse of his marriage, Mel Gibson has something to smile about. Proud dad Mel is telling friends that his new daughter with Oksana Grigorieva has given him a second chance at happiness.

Oksana gave birth three weeks early to a healthy baby girl on October 30 at a LA hospital.

Now pals say Mel is thrilled to death with his second family. He's behaving like a first-time dad - deliriously happy and telling anyone who will listen about the joyful news.'

Although the delivery went smoothly, there were concerns early on about Oksana's pregnancy.

Oksana remained quite thin and then the birth turned out to be about three weeks premature,' said the friend. Mel asked his friends and family to pray that everything would go well for Oksana and the baby. Thankfully, it all went perfectly in the end, and Mel's ecstatic.'

He really sees the baby's arrival as the beginning of a new life for him after a difficult few years.'

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 16 2009]

First, I still have questions about when Oksana was originally supposed to give birth. Radar reported that she was a few weeks' early, and this report from the Enquirer claims Oksana was three weeks early. While I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, the weird timeline still bugs me. My second something's fishy' question is about Mel's activities post-delivery. Allegedly, Oksana gave birth on Friday (in Los Angeles) and she and the baby were home (in Los Angeles) by Sunday. But on Monday, Mel was back at work in upstate New York, where these smoking pictures are from. I thought you were supposed to light a cigar with a baby's birth, not a cigarette, but anyway... why did Mel leave Oksana and the baby in the lurch? Certainly Mel could have gotten a few days off of work to spend time with the baby at home. Which means that Mel might want to be away from Oksana, right? Which throws into question how thrilled' he is about this whole thing, in my mind.

Mel Gibson is shown filming The Beaver in Upstate NY on 11/4/09. Credit: Fame Pictures