New Year's Babies

Highlands County has not one, not two, but three babies for New Year's Day.

The first to arrive was Layla Marie Vargas, who arrived at 12:12 a.m. at Highlands Regional Medical Center.

She was followed by Mariah Lee-Jean Smithers at 1:01 a.m., also at Highlands.

At Florida Hospital Heartland, the new baby is William Pacheco Almaraz, who came at 9:26 a.m.

Layla wasn't named after Eric Clapton's song, said her parents, Ashlie Campbell and David Vargas, both of Lake Placid. "We just liked the name."

Baby was quiet when the media arrived, which seems typical so far.

"She just been sleeping," Campbell said. Layla was scheduled to arrive on Jan. 3, but on New Year's Eve, she decided to step out a few days early.

Even though labor was induced, she arrived by natural childbirth, with mom and dad practicing Lamaze. The 18-hour labor went well, said Campbell, who's been working at Wendy's in Lake Placid, but is trained as a certified nursing assistant and will now practice nursing.

Vargas works at Delray, finding and spraying bugs. The parents say Layla has his thick black hair and her face.

The nurses were Melynda Rigdon and Idalmy Rios.

Mariah is the daughter of Patricia Nila and Keith Smithers of Sebring. She weighed six pounds, six ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. Her grandmother is Betty Smithers.

William is the son of Erika Almaraz and Felipe DeJesus Pacheco-Reyes, both of Okeechobee. The biggest baby of the day, he weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce, and measured 21 inches.

Pacheco-Reyes paints airplanes; Almaraz stays at home with the family.

Mom spoke with RN Stephanie Helland and delivery RN Rachael Miller two hours after natural delivery, and looked exhausted.

"Dad was nervous," said Helland, who spoke Spanish with the parents. "He couldn't stay in the room. The mom was great."

And old hand at this, Almaraz delivered her fifth child, but this was her first boy.

"No more though," they both agreed. They now have the son they wanted, so their family is complete.