Early baby arrives in time for Christmas

THREE AND A HALF WEEKS before schedule, Karen Goddard gave birth to her second son at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) at 9:14 on Christmas morning.

While she said this labour was much harder than her first, she was just happy he was here safe and sound.

“This is the second and the last. I have another son who is two and a half years old at home. The first one was a breeze, not this one. I went into labour about one o’clock this morning,” she said of her son, who weighed in at seven pounds, 5.8 ounces.

Daddy Rasheen Belgrave agreed.

“The first time was easier, but the second time was an experience. When I got the call, I said just wait it out, it might just be, you know . . . . We were not expecting a Christmas baby because she wasn’t due until January, so it was totally unexpected,” he said.

While the couple had not settled on a name, Goddard said the nurse who delivered him had started to call him Micah.

“There are a lot of names floating around in my head, but nothing hasn’t stuck yet,” said Belgrave.

They were presented with a hamper by Kaffy-Ann Harewood, brand manager of Massy Distribution. The other 26 mothers on the ward were also given Christmas gifts for their bundles of joy.

Up to press time, there was another woman in labour at the QEH, and no admissions at Bayview Hospital.

Minister of Health John Boyce was spotted making his way to the maternity ward, and offered his well-wishes to all the new mothers.

“Merry Christmas of course to all our mothers at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who would have given birth recently of course and especially on Christmas Day ….Every Christmas we come to the hospital with the management team, and we visit a number of wards and share with the clients and staff,” he said as he made his way to visit the new babes.