Hong Kong welcomes two 2022 babies born at the stroke of midnight
- Doctors at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Tsuen Wan deliver city’s new year babies, who are both girls
- One couple wishes their newborn daughter will bring joy and hope to Hong Kong; the other couple, who are first-time parents, hope their child will grow up happy and healthy
At the stroke of midnight as Hong Kong celebrated the new year, civil servant Li and his wife welcomed their baby daughter into the world.
Their child, born at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Tsuen Wan and weighing 2.4kg, is the second daughter for the couple, who both work as surveyors for the government. Their elder daughter is 18 months old.
Asking to be identified by only his surname, Li said he hoped his newborn daughter would bring joy and hope to Hong Kong in the new year, after what the city had gone through. He added his family would remain in the city and had no plans to leave.
Li said their doctor previously suggested his wife give birth by caesarean section on Friday, but they did not want their daughter to be born at the end of the year, so they decided to postpone the delivery to New Year’s Day.
The couple named their newborn daughter Gilly, for the gillyflower representing happiness, hope and longevity, adding that she appeared to resemble her father more, while her elder sister Guru took after her mother.
“I hope my two daughters will love each other and grow up happily,” Li said.
At the same time at midnight in the same hospital, a baby girl weighing 2.8kg was born to a Hong Kong couple in their 30s. The birth came as a surprise to them, as they had expected their first child to arrive sometime in mid-January.
The husband, who asked to be identified by his surname Li, said his wife was admitted to hospital on Friday afternoon after experiencing fetal movements. Li stayed by his wife’s side during the delivery and witnessed the pain she had to endure.
“We didn’t expect the baby would come out so soon,” Li said. “I hope she will grow up happy and healthy.”
Acknowledging the pain and difficulties his wife endured, Li added: “Being a mother and giving birth to a baby is remarkable.”
For the new year, Li hoped the coronavirus pandemic would be over soon. “We have entered a new phase of life, and we will learn to educate our daughter,” he said.
In public hospitals, a couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy weighing 2.95kg, half an hour past midnight at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. Nine minutes later, another baby boy weighing 2.87kg was born at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin – the second child of his parents, according to the Hospital Authority.
