First baby of 2002 is a girl
Most experienced mothers will tell you that undergoing the final stages of pregnancy during the Christmas holidays is no easy task. About the only possible advantage, they say, is the notoriety of giving birth to the first Belizean of the New Year. News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams caught up with the latest winners at K.H.M.H.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
For one mother, the New Year’s celebration came a bit later than usual, ushered in by the sound of a new baby’s cry. Twenty-two year old Sharon Gotoy of Lake Independence welcomed her five pound, two ounce bundle of joy at 11:15 on New Year’s morning. According to Gotoy, not even the birth of her other children prepared her to face such an arduous delivery.
Sharon Gotoy
“It was a hard time. I was in pain and bawl, but I got over fast.”
Hospital authorities confirmed that this is Gotoy’s fifth baby girl. When asked if she’s thought of a name, this is what she had to say…
Sharon Gotoy
“Never got time. Never got time.”
A mother who did have time on her hands is twenty-seven year old Reina Hope of Albert Street in Belize City. She was one hour shy of winning the prize as baby girl Evelyn Joana Miranda Rodriguez was born at 12:15 p.m. on the same day. She weighed in at nine pounds, two ounces. This happy mother of two other girls wanted to have her baby on New Year’s day.
Reina Hope
“When I reached, only she was up here and me and she mi di have a contest. The nurse said it was a contest because both of us were in pain. She was in one bed and I was in the other, but she went in first and had the baby at 11:15 and I my one at 12:15. I nearly got it, but she win me.”
Unlike Gotoy, who didn’t want a boy, it was what Hope, hoped for.
Reina Hope
“I did the ultrasound and they said it was a girl, so I already knew, but I wish to have a boy.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
The third baby born on New Year’s day at K.H.M.H. was Emerson Elijah Elijio, who weighed in at six pounds, three ounces. Sharon Gotoy, mother of the year’s first born, was presented with a layette set courtesy of the Belize City Lions Club. All the mothers who gave birth on January first also received Confort diapers courtesy of Santiago Castillo Limited.
