Joy as babies born on Christmas Day

It was a festive atmosphere at the maternity ward of the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital as Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh visited the first baby to be born on Christmas Day, Lucas Hamid.

Amrita Gobin-Hamid of Chaguanas gave birth to Lucas at 1.13 am on Christmas Day. She said while giving birth was horrid, she had an exceptional midwife and all the staff were pleasant.

“At first I wasn’t certain I wanted Lucas to be born on Christmas Day because I wanted him to get two gifts. But now I’m excited he’s here.”

His father Darren said he was excited that his son had been born on Christmas Day.

Keren Burke, mother of the first girl to be born on Christmas Day, said her baby Kerena Garcia was her third child. Burke said Kerena was born at 2.54 am, less than two hours after she arrived at the hospital at 1.30 am.

“I was actually due on New Year's but she decided to come a week early. Today would have 39 weeks. She didn’t want to be born next year.

“She has a brother and sister at home.

“They are by Grandma, who took them yesterday because I was having contractions.

“The boy didn’t want another sister and asked, ‘Mummy, could you change it to a boy?’

“He’s outnumbered now but he’s the oldest, so he gets to be a big brother to his sisters and protect them. He’ll come around eventually.”

At the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), Khanda King was the first mother to give birth on Christmas Day at the Sangre Grande Hospital. Her baby boy was delivered at 3.10 am and weighed six pound, seven ounces.

CEO Angelina Rampersad-Pierre and director Lucy Torres presented her with a hamper of baby products.

Staff at the hospital celebrated Christmas with mothers on the Maternity Ward as they welcomed their babies. They also shared the joy with the children warded at the hospital.

All other mothers and expecting mothers who were on the ward were also presented with gift bags containing personal items for mother and baby. The ERHA team was accompanied by Santa Claus to visit the children on ward to present gifts and spread the joy of Christmas.

Speaking to the media following the visit to Mt Hope, obstetrics and gynaecology head Prof Bharat Bassaw said new mothers continued to receive care after they were discharged.

“We have continuity of care. This hospital and the others have become baby-friendly institutions.

“We did very well to get the support we got from our minister, the CEO and the rest of the managers to get that status. We actually tried for quite a while to get that status for this hospital and it has materialised.

“After women deliver, it’s not just the women, obviously we have to look after the babies as well.

“We are pushing the family, the husband, the partner are very much involved in the delivery.

“After they deliver, some of them come back here for a follow-up, while others go to their local doctors, depending on their risk assessment.”

North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) CEO Davlin Thomas said the hospital had a post-natal health unit.

“For the babies and the parents that would have had problematic births, we actually send a unit to their houses for the first month or so to basically guide them through to normalcy.”

Asked whether the recommendations made by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in its report following the death of several babies in the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Port of Spain General Hospital had been implemented, Deyalsingh said, “As I said openly in the Parliament, most of those recommendations were already implemented.

“We had some issues with the PAHO report and we sat down with them.

“That’s all I can say at this moment because as you know, legal proceedings are happening.”

The parents of the babies who died have brought legal action against the North West Regional Health Authority.