A Santa Clarita Valley tradition continued Wednesday when the first SCV baby born at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital was a girl delivered by a woman who grew up in the valley since she was a baby.

Eloise Iris Ruth came into the world healthy at 9:40 a.m. Jan. 1, 2020, weighing 9 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 21.57 inches tall.

The girl’s parents, Melanie and Nick Ruth, arrived at the hospital Monday, and after 36 hours of labor, the baby was born by cesarean section.

“I was also a big baby,” the new mom said at the hospital Thursday afternoon. “I was 9 pounds and 5 ounces.”

Melanie described herself further as 5-foot-4 and her mother, Paula Wahla, as 5-foot-2, noting, “We just make big babies.”

As is routine with C-section newborns, Eloise was administered a constant flow of oxygen.

Melanie got to hold her baby for the first time, she said, on Thursday afternoon, an hour before meeting the press.

“If it looks like I’ve been crying, it’s because I just got to hold her,” she said.

The baby’s father, Nick, asked if he could touch the baby’s head when the nurse told him: “Here, why not hold her?”

Nick chose the name Eloise, he said, simply because he always liked that name.

What are they going to call her day-to-day?

“Elly,” both parents said.

“‘El,’ when she’s older,” Melanie added.

Flowers like Iris figure into the names of women in Melanie’s family, which include at least one “Violet” and one “Rose.”

Besides, they said, Eloise Iris Ruth, has a nice ring to it.

Although both new parents have been living in Glendale for the past five years, Santa Clarita Valley is considered home.

Melanie attended Highland Elementary School and later Valencia High School.

And, while her relatives have only a short distance to travel to get to see the baby, Nick grew up in the western part of Massachusetts and is expecting relatives to fly in from the East to also see the first SCV baby of 2020.