Baby girl first for ’09By Newsday Reporters Friday, January 2 2009
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Baby boom: Head nurse Subhawatie Bissessar, second from left, stands proudly with mothers Indrawatie Sonwaru, left, Leelawatie Ramnath, third from lef...
A Tobago couple are the proud parents of a girl who was the first baby born in the country New Year’s morning.
Gerald and Leslie Ann Woods-Francis are still to decide on a name for their baby girl who came into the world at 12.14 am at the Scarborough Hospital in Tobago yesterday. She weighed 2.72 kilogrammes. Her mother shyly told Newsday her birth went smoothly.
“I didn’t have any problems,” said Woods-Francis, of Government Road, Scarborough, who has two other children.
The Tobago hospital recorded three early morning births, another girl and a boy. Kelva Checkly had her baby girl at 1.41 am, and Fiona Burnett’s son was born about three hours later at 4.18 am. Unlike, the first two mothers Burnett had already picked a name for her son, Jayden Adams.
Tobago Regional Health Authority secretary for health/social services Oswald Williams and other officials visited the mothers and presented them with hampers. Across in Trinidad, first time mother, Thia Francis, 17, had a baby born at 12.28 am, the first birth recorded at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital.
Francis’s son had to be delivered by an emergency caesarian section. The young mother still has to choose a name for her son who weighed 3.09 kilogrammes. Francis’s son was one of two early births at the women’s hospital. Lynn Perreira-Seetaram had the second baby, another boy named Ishmael, at 2.27 am.
Perreira-Seetaram, who lives in Tabaquite and already has two girls, was glowing proudly as she held her first son comfortably in her arms. Another special delivery was made at 3.15 am at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital when Tricia Rodney had her baby girl Shayna Jacob, who weighed 3.46 kilogrammes. Six hours later, the hospital had its second birth, another girl born to Akankie Renaud at 9.25 am. Renaud is also to name her daughter. Midwives at the San Fernando General Hospital had a very busy start to their shift on New Year’s Day with six delivers by 7 am, however one of the babies was stillborn. Leelawatie Ramnath had a first baby, a son, at 12.32 am. He weighed 3.1 kilogrammes. Ramnath, 19, told Newsday she was happy her son — yes, he too is still to be named —was the first to be born on the holiday even though it was a difficult delivery.
The Penal mother said: “Everybody does tell you different stories but when you experience it on your own, it is a different story.”
With a smile, the proud mother cooed to her son and added his father was very excited about the birth. “His daddy wanted a boy. It did not matter to me what I got but his father is so excited,” she said. Ramnath does however have a name in mind for her son. “I was thinking of Seejay as a home name but I do not know what it will be yet,” she said.
Several hours later at 3.30 am, little Keira Wills was born to Amanda Molino, of Pleasantville. Molino said her first son named the baby girl. “When I called to tell my son, who is eight, that he had a baby sister, he said, ‘Thank God.’ He was the one to pick the name and Keira is a nice name. I have the boy and the girl so that is it for me — no more,” laughed Molino, who was overdue by two and half weeks.She had to give up her job because of her risky pregnancy and spent most of the term in bed.
“I had a lot of people praying for me and the nurses had to induce labour. I thank God that everything turned out well,” she said.
Head nurse at the hospital Subhawati Bissessar, who has been on the maternity ward for more than 10 years, said she was pleased the births went smoothly.
