It’s a girl at the Adventist Health Tulare Birth Center! First baby arrives to cheers, tears

The first baby born under the Adventist Health banner made her arrival at 1:49 p.m. Monday to the cheers and tears of an excited obstetrics team and a hospital family that could barely contain their excitement.

Baby Alayah Rene Valdez was born to Jessica Rene Valdez, 24, of Tulare, and was delivered via cesarean section by Tulare obstetrician Abraham Betre, DO, who was thrilled to deliver the first baby for Adventist Health Tulare. Mother and baby are doing well.

“I’m delighted and very happy,” Betre said about delivering Tulare’s first baby. “The staff was great, and the family is very happy. We have all been waiting to restore birthing service for a long time, and now it’s back. We are very excited to provide this service to the community.”

Baby Alayah weighed 7 pounds and measured 20½ inches in length. Valdez has two boys, ages 4 and 6, but this is her first daughter.

Valdez said she would remember most how the staff made her feel.

“It was special,” she said, “just exciting. I’m a little tired now, but it was good. The nurses were all really nice.”

The team had been preparing for the arrival of the first baby for weeks, and the California Department of Public Health last week gave the team the green light to open the unit on schedule.

On delivery day, the team decorated Jessica’s room with balloons and flowers to welcome her and the baby, and two huge gift baskets were waiting for her, filled with baby items.

Toni Gonzales, director of the Tulare Birth Center, said: “From the moment my day began, everyone – from the ED nurses to the housekeepers to the kitchen staff – kept asking me, ‘Is the first baby here yet?’ And then when we heard the lullaby play over the hospital loudspeaker, we cheered and cried – that was so special!”

Now that the Birth Center is open, Gonzales said the team looks forward to welcoming many new babies to the hospital.

Expectant moms may arrange a tour of the birth center by appointment by calling 559-685-3491.