Proud parents name bundle of joy Suri
By MICHELLE CARUSO
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have plenty to smile about with the birth of daughter Suri.
LOS ANGELES - Hide the couches. Tom Cruise really has reason to jump for joy.
The actor and fiancée Katie Holmes are the proud parents of a healthy baby girl. She's already known round the world as TomKitten, but they named her Suri.
The name means "princess" in Hebrew or "red rose" in Persian, the actor's rep said in a statement.
The infant weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and meas.ured 20 inches long.
Cruise, 43, and Holmes, 27, "joyously welcomed" the baby and "both mother and daughter are doing well," the statement said.
The statement didn't say at what time yesterday or where the bundle of joy was born.
But a crowd of paparazzi gathered at the celebrity-friendly St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., which boasts a state-of-the-art maternity ward where supermodel Heidi Klum recently gave birth.
It's the first child for Holmes. Cruise has two older children, Connor and Isabella, adopted with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
The outspoken Cruise said he and Katie were "going back and forth" on whether to have a home or hospital birth, according to an interview in the May issue of GQ magazine.
The "Mission: Impossible III" star made it clear he and Holmes., who recently converted from Catholicism to Scientology, wanted a Scientology-style "silent birth" with little or no talking in the delivery room.
Scientologists believe noise causes trauma to people in pain. "It's really about respecting the woman," Cruise said.
But the Top Gun swore Holmes. would be allowed to moan or "make as much noise" as she needed to if she was in pain during labor.
Cruise, a foe of prescription drugs, also said he wanted Holmes to "try to do it without anything" but that she would be allowed to have a pain-killing epidural shot if she needed to. "It'll be up to her," he told GQ.
There was no word on whether Katie took a shot or went au naturel.
In an odd twist, actress Brooke Shields, whom Cruise harshly criticized for taking antidepressants to treat her postpartum depression after the birth of her first child three years ago, also gave birth yesterday. Shields and husband Chris Henchy named their new baby girl Grier.
Cruise recently told ABC's "Primetime" that his baby will not be baptized Catholic, despite the Ohio-born Holmes' Catholic-school upbringing. "We're Scientologists," he said.
The May-December couple, dubbed TomKat by the media, met about a year ago while he was promoting "War of the Worlds" and she was set to release "Batman Begins."
Not long after, the toothy actor jumped on Oprah Winfrey's couch to express his love for the former "Dawson's Creek" cutie. They got engaged last summer in Paris and announced in October that they were expecting a child.
Holmes' dad reportedly has been unhappy over his daughter's new lifestyle - and her unwed state.
Cruise said he and Holmes plan to wed later this summer. "I can't wait until we get married," he told "Primetime."
Meanwhile, Holmes appeared to be getting ready for the big day even before she gave birth.
Personal trainer Kimberly Riegel, who runs a business called BuffBrides.com, was seen visiting Casa Cruise just last week.
