Lompoc Valley Medical Center Welcomes First Baby of 2025

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Vandenberg Space Force Base residents Miata and Steven Tracy celebrated the start of the New Year with the birth of their baby girl – just two minutes after midnight on Jan. 1, 2025.

Little Say’ora Grace Tracy was delivered naturally by Lompoc Health OBGYN Dr. Yvonne Wolny, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces and stretching 20 ½ inches.

For the first time in more than a decade, Lompoc Valley Medical Center had the first New Year baby born in Santa Barbara County.

The Tracys moved to Vandenberg in October from Montana. They are originally from Mississippi. Steven was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant and is with the 741^st MMSX, flight test missile maintenance.

Say’ora was due on Jan. 8, but Miata’s water broke on Tuesday morning.

“I took a shower after the water broke,” Miata explained. “Google says the nurses like that. Then we called the doctor.”

Her OBGYN, Dr. Rod Huss, was not available for the holiday birth, but Dr. Wolny stepped in.

“We like Lompoc,” Miata said of choosing LVMC for the birth. “The base is right there. Santa Maria is another option, but we just didn’t care to drive to Santa Maria. Dr. Huss has great reviews. Dr. Wolny was amazing.”

Miata was initially worried about finding an OBGYN when the parents-to-be moved to town in the seventh month of her pregnancy.

“We got lucky coming here,” Miata said. “The nursing staff was all great, definitely friendly. Last night (New Year’s Eve) they were wearing hats, dancing. It was really fun. I tried hard to get her right at midnight.”

The delivery staff congratulated the couple and thanked them for having the first baby of the new year.

“She’s famous now,” Miata said the nurses told her. “It didn’t matter the date, as long as she was healthy. That’s all we care about.”

The baby’s name is similar to a name the couple heard on a television show they watch, thought they changed it a bit. They thought it was a “cute little name. We thought if we have a little girl, that is what we’d name her.”

In honor of the New Year birth, the LVMC Labor and Delivery staff presented the new parents with a gift basket filled with diapers, breastfeeding items, baby books, clothes, rattles and teethers.

Miata, 29, and Steven,27, have been married six years. They met while working together at a medical supply warehouse and quickly became friends. Within two months, they married.

“He asked me and I just felt it was right,” Miata recalls.

Miata initially thought she’d enjoy being a “Boy Mom,” as it would be easier, she said. Having a little girl, she says now, is “amazing.”

“We’ll have matching outfits,” the proud mom said. “We’ll go to Starbies. We’ll drive Dad insane. He’s going to be a great girl dad.”

As for Say’ora’s future, both parents want her to be happy.

“We want her to go to college,” Miata said. “We’ll be supportive parents of what route she wants to take. We’re going to support her choices and guide her in life and make sure she’s happy.”

Say’ora might get a bit of spoiling too.

“We want her to have everything we never had,” the new mom said. “She’s going to have it.”

Steven added, “I just hope she’s happy, whatever she does.”