CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake couple on Wednesday welcomed a baby girl who is the county's first baby of the new year.
Tarah Murphy and Randy Weaver gave birth to Azayla Weaver at 10:34 a.m. New Year's Day at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, according to hospital spokesperson Michelle Van Hoff.
The little girl weighed 9 pounds and was 21 inches long, Van Hoff said.
Van Hoff said the couple and their new baby received a gift basket donated by Walmart.
Rebecca Southwick, spokesperson for Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport, said Thursday afternoon that so far this year no new babies have arrived at that hospital's birthing center.
Southwick said Sutter Lakeside annually welcomes close to 340 new births. An annual birth count for St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake was not immediately available.
From 1996 to 2012, Lake County averaged approximately 662 births annually, according to data records from the California Department of Public Health and Department of Finance.
There were 739 babies born in 2012 – the most recent year for which numbers are available. The most births for any one year between 1996 and 2012 was 742 in 2007, according to the state statistics.
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