Meet Independence babiesBy Lara Pickford-Gordon Saturday, September 1 2012
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Navisa Hosein and Richard Beharry pose with their newborn child at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday. ...
The hopeS and optimism which marked this country’s birth as an Independent nation in 1962 were yesterday felt by mothers of this year’s independence babies, as they expectantly look forward to seeing their newborns turn 50 years.
While many were celebrating TT’s golden jubilee yesterday, some women were bringing new life into the world on the historic day.
There were five births (three males and two females) at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (POSGH) between the hours of 1.34 am to 11.25 am.
Thirty-five-year-old Yolande Jones, of Laventille, gave birth to the first Independence Day baby at 1.24 am. She had gone to clinic at the hospital on Wednesday and everything was “normal.”
Her projected due date was August 31. She returned home — Rudolph Charles Link Road — and had something to eat, but after she went to the bathroom she began going into labour.
Jones called for an ambulance but it did not come. Instead, a relative ended up taking her to the hospital. Dilation of the cervix (opening of the uterus during childbirth) had reached 8 cm when she arrived at the hospital at 11.50 pm. Jones said she had a “normal delivery” although her daughter weighed 10 lbs 1 oz.
In an interview at the labour ward, on the first floor of the PoSGH, Jones, who works as a cook in Port-of-Spain restaurant, said she wanted to give birth on Independence Day.
“It feels good. I always wanted to have the baby on Independence Day because it is the 50th anniversary,” the beaming mother said.
Jones said her baby’s father, Oba Brathwaite, chose the name Sapphire. The newborn is her eighth child. Her eldest is 19 years old. When TT celebrates its centennial anniversary of Independence, her baby will be 50 years old.
“I hope I live to see that. It would be nice,” she said with a smile. The second Independence baby was a seven-pound baby girl born one hour later at 2.34 am to 29-year-old Salisha Grant of St James. Her labour began at 11.25 pm Thursday and was “difficult” compared with the delivery of her two other children, ages six years and seven years.
Speaking about how she felt about the birth yesterday, Salisha said, “I feel good, mostly because of how my seven-year-old daughter, Alyssa, will be eight years old today (September 1). August 31 is a historic day and I feel more proud.”
No name has yet been chosen for the new baby but it will be a name which starts with the letter “A”, she said. Proud father of the baby is Alister Lewis. Salisha worked with him in the field of pool maintenance before going on maternity leave.
As for seeing her child turn 50 years old, she said, “I can’t say if I’ll be alive, only God knows if I’ll be able to celebrate with her. No matter what I will be proud.”
The baby was not with her mother on the ward when Newsday visited.
Salisha explained, “She swallowed her stool so they have her downstairs (the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to see that everything is okay before bringing her back.”
