MOSES LAKE — The rationale behind the gifts included for the first baby of the year at Samaritan Hospital is to give a new mother everything she needs. And maybe a few things she doesn’t need but are just fun for a family, like the 5-foot-tall teddy bear.

The goal, said Kim Pope, is to give a new mom what she would need if she was starting from scratch. Pope collected the gifts and put the package together.

When assembling the gifts – there’s so much stuff it won’t fit in a basket – Pope said they start with the question. “What if (a new mom) were to have nothing?” And there have been a couple of first babies and their moms in the last few years who welcomed those basics, said Gretchen Youngren, Samaritan’s director of communications.

Gifts for the first baby of the year are an old tradition, at Samaritan as at other hospitals. “It’s pretty common that the first baby of the year is always celebrated.”

Back in the day hospital officials sought donations from businesses all over town. But Pope said when she took over the task, she decided to concentrate on getting donations from health care organizations in the community. Being the hospital, she said she thought the gifts should promote good health.

Of course the first baby and Mom get the diapers and the baby shampoo, the onesies and the baby bibs. There are toys that squeak and have different textures. There are multiple pacifiers and receiving blankets. There’s a bouncing baby seat and a digital thermometer.

When Samaritan staff goes shopping, “we look for things that we as moms thought were fantastic,” Pope said, and baby-tested and mom-approved items they have given as gifts to other expectant mothers. “It’s really quite fun,” Pope said, picking out baby stuff. Because there’s no way of knowing whether it’s a girl or a boy, all the gifts are neutral colors and would work for either gender.

And there’s the bear, a gift from a local home improvement store. The store’s employees also throw in a growth chart they build from a pine board. “It plays music,” Youngren said. So it did, just by squeezing its ear.

“Everybody was happy to donate,” Pope said. “It’s pretty cool the way everybody has come together,” Youngren said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].