First New Year’s baby delivered in GTA was born at stroke of midnight
CTVNews.com
January 2, 2019
Katherine DeClerq
As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, families across the Greater Toronto Area welcomed their bouncing bundles of joy.
Scarborough General Hospital announced on social media the birth of a baby girl born exactly at the stroke of midnight.
“Beautiful little Fatima arrived this morning at our General hospital at the stroke of midnight!” the Scarborough Health Network said on Twitter.
The baby’s mother, Dina, said the child was born eight seconds after midnight.
“I didn’t expect that I would deliver my child after midnight,” she told CP24. “I was very surprised and happy to hold my baby girl.”
The second baby of 2019 was born just two minutes later at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Parents Rachel and Riccardo Forno rushed to the hospital in the early morning on Dec. 31.
The Richmond Hill couple did not expect to be at the hospital on New Year’s Eve. They had made plans to ring in the New Year with friends at a house party, as the baby wasn’t due for another three weeks.
“Our doctor said that he was never going to make it there. So we were planning for an early baby,” Riccardo told CTV News Toronto. “We just didn’t think it was this early.”
Riccardo said they arrived at the hospital around 5:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve and were told by the doctors they weren’t leaving without a baby.
“We had a feeling the baby may come in 2019, but most likely it would come in 2018. So, we were just patient.”
Riccardo and Rachel welcomed their second child, named Sebastian, at 12:02 a.m. on Jan. 1.
“We are really excited right now,” Riccardo said.
About six minutes after Sebastian was born, Lakeridge Health’s Ajax Pickering Hospital welcomed the first baby born in Durham Region.
“Baby Girl Venkatesh arrived at 12:08 a.m. at Lakeridge Health’s Ajax Pickering Hospital weighing 8 pounds. Congratulations to proud parents, Rathna and Mahendran,” Lakeridge Health announced on Twitter.
Venkatesh is the first member of the family to be born in Canada.
The first 2019 baby in Mississauga was born to the Vanderwielen family at Credit Valley Hospital around 4:14 a.m.
“The Vanderwielen family has not yet chosen the name of their beautiful baby girl, and both baby and mom are healthy and doing well,” Trillium Health Partners said in a news release.
Beautiful little Fatima arrived this morning at our General hospital at the stroke of midnight! Here she is with proud mom Dina, her aunt Farah and grandmother Zainab. #ScarbTO @CityNews @CP24 @CTVToronto @globalnewsto @CBCToronto @TorontoStar @Torontosun2 @torontodotcom pic.twitter.com/d2XbV9WKIu
--Scarborough Health Network (@SHNcares) January 1, 2019
