NEW YEAR brought bundles of joy for parents across the country.
- In Gauteng, 120 babies were born: 62 girls and 58 boys.
The score in KZN was 35 boys and 31 girls, while Western Cape racked up 104, well ahead of Eastern Cape’s 51, with 25 girls and 26 boys.
Limpopo welcomed 161 babies, 81 boys and 80 girls on New Year’s Day.
- When her premature twins died last year, Thabisile Hlatshwayo (30) of Pongola in KZN was devastated.
But on New Year’s Day, she gave birth to another set of healthy twins – a little girl called Sibanesihle and her brother Senzelwe.
- Western Cape Health Department spokeswoman Nadia Ferreira said the Mowbray Maternity Hospital had the most births with 20 babies, followed by Somerset with 16.
“The first born was a baby boy at Mowbray Hospital, at 12.07 am, and the first girl was born at New Somerset Hospital at 12.22 am.
- In Eastern Cape, Sivuyisiwe Tokwe (25) of Port Elizabeth celebrated the dawn of 2017 in Dora Nginza Hospital with a healthy baby boy called Siluphiwe Sibulele.
He was delivered by caesarian birth at 6.48am, weighing in at 4kg.
Sivuyisiwe said: “What a way to start the year! To give birth on this day is wonderful. Having my first baby on the first day of the year means I have really started a new chapter in a new year on a clean slate.”
- At Malamulele Hospital in Limpopo, mayor Joyce Bila welcomed seven babies born on New Year’s Day.
Iren Mathebula (32) from Gumbani Village outside Malamulele told the SunTeam: “I carried her for nine months and my love for her is unconditional. I can’t explain how I feel at the moment. I am happy and I am running out of words.”
