KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

The first three ba­bies born in South Trinidad in 2020 were all giv­en bib­li­cal names. Two girls and one boy were born at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal (SFGH) and there was one ba­by boy at the Area Hos­pi­tal, Point Fortin.

At 2.28 am, Shiloh Mitchell was the first ba­by of the new year as well as the first child for his 34-year-old Fyz­abad moth­er Shau­na Bas­combe-Mitchell. At 8.11 lbs, Shiloh ar­rived a bit ear­ly, as Bas­combe-Mitchell said he was due be­tween Jan­u­ary 3 to 7.

“It was a bit chal­leng­ing, but it is re­ward­ing. Nor­mal de­liv­ery, nat­ur­al birth. The name rep­re­sents the Mes­si­ah, mean­ing “he who was sent, a gift from God.”

Two and a half hours lat­er, Shenel Valdez gave birth to her first child, Anaise, who came five days late but at a healthy 6.05 lbs. Valdez, 23, from Pe­nal, said the five and half hour de­liv­ery was tir­ing and she doubt­ed that she would do it again.

Ki­moy Welling­ton gave birth to her ba­by girl at 6.18 am was rest­ing af­ter un­der­go­ing a Cae­sar­i­an-sec­tion. 

In Point Fortin, Marisa Lewis gave birth to her ba­by boy at 5.32 am. All three moth­ers were pre­sent­ed with ham­pers by Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh, who al­so brought gifts for the nurs­ing staff on the ward. 
Deyals­ingh said he was proud that the par­ents of a ba­by born on Christ­mas day have ac­cept­ed his chal­lenge to name their child Ter­ry and he has now ac­cept­ed the re­quest to be the child’s god­fa­ther.