Putting Down Roots

After attending the Childbirth Preparation class, Shelly Ohlms and her family were the first to receive a tree courtesy of the Trees for Babies program.

Five-month-old Tenley Wahba’s favorite pastime is sitting on her parents’ windowsill and looking out, amazed at the swirling leaves of the towering trees in her front yard. Soon, her very own Meyer lemon tree will join them, courtesy of the Trees for Babies program.

A joint venture between Enloe Medical Center and the City of Chico, the program is an initiative to support healthy families and grow cleaner, greener spaces for the next generation. Expecting parents who graduate from certain classes at Enloe’s Mother & Baby Education Center may be eligible to receive a free tree to honor the birth of their child.

For Lori Silva, the Mother & Baby Care Center’s Outpatient Coordinator, the program provided an extra incentive for new parents to enroll in important classes, like Childbirth Preparation, Newborn Parenting, Understanding Grandparenting, and Understanding Fatherhood. But it also represented an embracement of the community’s newest members.

“It’s such a beautiful gift from Enloe and the City of Chico to honor their baby,” Silva said. “What a beautiful way to do it in honor of another living soul.”

Tenley’s parents received the first tree from the program. However, this is not the first time they have felt supported by their community. The pair moved from the Midwest three years ago, in search of a fresh start in an outdoor-centric area with great food and culture. They found a match in Chico and quickly settled in, buying a house and starting a family.

The couple attended Enloe’s Childbirth Preparation class. Having been a nanny for a decade, Shelly Ohlms considered it more of an introduction to parenting for her partner, Alex Wahba, than herself. But she said she was pleasantly surprised at how much she learned in the process.

“We walked out of there feeling so incredibly prepared,” Ohlms said. “I would recommend that class to absolutely anyone.”

Growing up Together

Tenley was born prematurely in December and spent the first month of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Roseville. During that frantic time, the couple’s new friends and neighbors stepped in, taking care of animals and looking after their home as they lived out of a hotel hours away.

“The community rallied around us here. These were very new friendships, but we were meeting people that cared about us enough to drive us to the hospital,” Ohlms said. “It solidified that Chico is a really special place to be.”

In February, with a healthy Tenley back at home in Chico, volunteers arrived at the family’s residence to plant a Meyer lemon tree, inspired by the couple’s infatuation with the number of citrus trees in the area.

Recently, the tree had its first bloom. Ohlms pointed out the self-admittedly “cheesy” significance between a child and her tree blooming together. But to the family, that tree symbolizes the future they want their daughter to have.

“We definitely want to raise a daughter who’s comfortable outside and respects nature,” she said. “The simplicity of nature is something you can offer kids, even if everything else is a little hectic at the moment. This really is the perfect place for us to be.”

To learn more about Enloe’s Trees for Babies program, call 530-332-3970.