Oh Baby!

The Family Birth Center at Culpeper Regional Hospital bounced with new babies Jan. 1.

In fact by 10 a.m., three newborns had arrived — two boys and one girl. That’s in addition to another four born Thursday in the local hospital.

“We’ve been a little busy,” said birth center director Becky Bradshaw, a registered nurse.

Compared to past New Years, she said this one was much busier than normal.

Officially speaking, Eder Salas was Culpeper’s first baby of 2010, arriving at 1:08 a.m. Friday morning to parents Marilis Velazquez and Maximo Salas of Culpeper.

Velazquez, understandably, still looked tired when interviewed about 10 hours later, but she and baby were awake and camera ready. Speaking limited English, Velazquez paused when asked her new baby’s name, as if she hadn’t made up her mind yet. She looked to her boyfriend, the father, before answering, “Eder,” an Old Testament name meaning, “flock.”

Velazquez said Eder was her second son as she has a 7-year-old boy who lives in Mexico, her native country. The newborn blinked at the lights Friday morning, not uttering a sound as he nestled close to momma.

Eder weighed in at six pounds, 14 ounces and measured 19 inches, according to birth center registered nurse Missy Whitcomb, a CRH employee for nearly 20 years.

Her shift started 7 a.m. Friday and by 10 a.m., another two babies had been born, Whitcomb said.

“Both mothers walked in around 7:30,” she said.

Velazquez, on the other hand, arrived around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, making for a long delivery.

“It was hard, but I feel fine,” she said. “I am happy.”

Formerly an employee of Communications Corp. of America in the Boston area of Culpeper, Velazquez planned to stay home to raise the new baby.

Salas, a first-time father, works for Battlefield Farms in Orange County and was nothing but grins Friday morning.

Because Eder was the hospital’s very first of the New Year, the birthing center staff presented the couple with a beautiful handmade baby quilt and a basket laden with useful infant supplies.

Whitcomb said the center’s nurses collaborated to make the quilt and donate the items for the second year in a row.

“It makes it kind of fun to have the New Year’s baby,” she said.

Dr. Melissa Delgado delivered all three babies that came before 10 a.m. Friday; by 11 she had gone home for a reprieve.

Bradshaw wasn’t so sure the baby activity was done for the day.

“We’ve had three — so far,” she said. Stay tuned.