Oak Harbor Navy couple welcomes first baby of 2026

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 13, 2026

The first baby born on Whidbey Island in 2026 arrived fashionably early, to the surprise of her parents.

Leola and Ben McWilliams of Oak Harbor welcomed their bundle of joy, daughter Daileen, at 10:22 p.m. on Jan. 1 at the WhidbeyHealth Family Birthplace. Weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measuring nearly 21 inches, little Daileen is the couple’s first child.

Leola was scheduled to be induced on the last day of 2025, six days before her due date. It seemed that they wouldn’t get to meet Daileen until Jan. 2, so they weren’t expecting her birth on the night of Jan. 1.

“We were all laying down to go to sleep and next thing you know she was like, ‘Surprise!’” Leola said.

It turned out to be an extremely quick birth, with all of five minutes of pushing.

“She came out very beautiful,” Leola said, with a “full head of hair.”

Leola and her husband are high school sweethearts from Tucson, Arizona. The Navy brought them to Whidbey, where they have lived for about a year while Ben is stationed at the base as an aviation machinist mate.

Their new arrival is in great health and doing all the regular activities befitting a newborn.

“She’s doing really good,” Leola said of Daileen on Friday. “She’s actually sleeping right now, thankfully.”