OC Hospital Welcomes First Baby Born 2013

The Women’s Hospital at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center welcomed the first baby born in its 25th anniversary year on January 1, 2013, at 3:28 AM.

Baby girl Skylar Eliza Allen was born to parents Kanita and Terry Allen. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces and measures 19.02 inches.

The most recent addition to the Allen family, Skylar joins sister Kyla Allen, age 7, and brother Ryder Allen, age 5, who were also born at The Women’s Hospital at Saddleback Memorial.

“Delivering our first baby of the New Year is always an exciting event for our hospital, and Skylar’s arrival is especially thrilling because she is the first birth of our 25th anniversary year,” said Steve Geidt, Saddleback Memorial’s CEO.   The Women's Hospital at Saddleback Memorial was founded in 1988 to provide sophisticated obstetrics and maternity services to the growing community in South Orange County."

Since its opening, more than 50,000 babies have been born at the facility. At a time when a women’s hospital was a new idea, Saddleback Memorial’s facility was the first hospital in the area to have a Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and to have perinatologists and anesthesiologists available 24 hours a day for mothers who were giving birth.

It was also one of the first hospitals in the nation to have the capability for women to experience labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum care in one room, helping families to bond and to keep their babies in their rooms instead of in a separate nursery. 

“Our goal in designing The Women’s Hospital was to create the perfect place to have a baby,” noted Geidt. “Because we started from the ground up in our planning, we were able to incorporate many new features that are still distinctive to our hospital, and to design the facility and our programs so that the experience of giving birth is all about the mothers, the babies, and their families.”

Anniversary events will be held around the actual date that the hospital opened, in early May.