Pella Regional Health Center’s first baby of 2026 is a little girl, Amelia Jane Shepherd born at 12:08 a.m. on January 1st. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. Her parents are Alison Bruett and Tristen Shepherd of Ottumwa. Dr. Mario Martinez delivered the baby, and Nicole Meppelink, RN, BSN, was the labor nurse.

While Amelia is Pella Regional’s first baby of the new year, the hospital also celebrated a busy 2025, delivering 624 babies—the second-highest annual total in the organization’s history. Of those births, 323 were boys and 301 were girls. Birth weights ranged from 3 pounds, 15 ounces to 11 pounds, 1 ounce. The most popular name for boys was Theo/Theodore; for girls, it was Charlotte.

Pella Regional’s family of medical clinics offers 10 family practice physicians who also practice obstetrics to serve their growing service area in providing prenatal care, delivery and care of the newborn after delivery. These physicians include Garrett Donaldson, MD, Cassandra Lanning, DO; Lucas Mihalovich, DO; Anne Hellbusch, DO; Mario Martinez, MD, PhD; Richard Posthuma, MD; Daniel Rowley, MD; Tereasa Van Zee, DO; Anne Meis, MD and Craig Wittenberg, MD.