Meet the First Born Babies of 2022!
Meet the first born baby boy and baby girl for 2022 at the K.H.M.H. They were born hours apart at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but are blessings for this new COVID year. The baby boy was the fourth child of Joezelee Estrada, whose family is still undecided on his name at this time, while the baby girl Shaya was a first experience for her mother Shala. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Joezelee Estrada, Mother of New Year Baby Boy
“I feel excited because he is a blessing to us and he makes everyone happy. Even though he’s not my first, but the entire family accept him and happy to have him in the family and that’s what I am happy about.”
Shala Smith, Mother of New Year Baby Girl
“I feel really excited. I mi nervous cause I neva know what to expect. I mi tired. I just happy I get it over with. I just happy fi have my baby.”
Duane Moody, Reporting
These two bundles of joy are blessings during yet another year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are also the first born boy and girl for the New Year at the K.H.M.H. The first baby was born at 9:39 a.m. on January first, at seven pound six ounces and is the fourth child of Joezelee Estrada. They have not chosen a name as yet, but Duane is being highly favoured. We met Estrada at home, who says she was worried about having a baby during the pandemic.
Joezelee Estrada
Joezelee Estrada
“The thirty-first I went in with no kinda pain. Contractions yes, but no pain at all. I was in the hospital, they admitted me and told me I had three centimetre so I said maybe I could go home. They told me no ma’am, you have to stay in. I was kinda excited cause I said the baby would have come the thirty-first, not the first. When time I look, they put drips on me, and I jumped from four to eight centimetre from seven to like around 8:15-8:30. By 9:39, I delivered my wonderful son and I heard them scream out and tell me, “Wow, you are the first baby for 2022. Ih say you have the New Year’s baby.” The tears I burst into were tears of joy.”
Inside the maternity ward at the K.H.M.H., a number of mothers are awaiting their discharge from the facility, including the third baby born on New Year’s Day; at six pounds and three ounces, Shaya is the first born girl for the year. It was an emotional time for her mother, twenty-year-old Shala Smith.
Shala Smith
Shala Smith
“My original due date was the twenty-sixth, but due to I noh know. Dehn neva make I come in the twenty-sixth. They tell me fi come in the twenty-seventh and I mi have baby di twenty-eight. But due to weh I neva did swab, I had to come and get a new date. So dehn just tell me fi come in on the thirty-first. So I come in the thirty-first. Ih neva want come out none at all, ih just mi di pain mi until dehn give me di pills and ih say see mi yah. Love, joy, happiness – I ketch cold seed and all. I just happy. This dah just all I mi ever want.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the bells and whistles could not happen for their New Year’s welcome.
Tylon Tillett
Tylon Tillett, Communications Officer, K.H.M.H.
“2022 has seen for the first time in the eight years that I have been there, babies being born this late. So Joezelee’s baby was born at 9:39; normally for the New Year’s baby it is right after twelve, it is 1:30 in the morning. These babies seem to not want to see 2022; it’s a little disturbing. We had our first child at 9:39 and the other child was born at 10:30 and we had three births for that day – two males and one female.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
Reports are not yet in from the districts and there may be a baby born at one of the regional hospitals earlier than those at K.H.M.H, but at news time these were the first reported.
