New arrivals at North East hospitals

Jan 2 2010 by Richard Fletcher, The Journal

NEW arrivals have made it a very happy New Year for a number of North East families.

Among yesterday’s New Year babies were twins Saul and Anna, born to Graham and Abigail Cowie from North Shields at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Abigail, a teacher at Northern Counties School in Jesmond, Newcastle, went into labour at 8.15pm on Thursday.

Saul came first weighing 5lb 8oz, followed by Anna weighing 6lb 2oz.

Graham, who works for North Tyneside Council, said they were delighted when they found out it was going to be twins.

He said: “It was a great surprise – we were overjoyed and so pleased to be pregnant to start with, and then two. It’s our first two so we’re in at the deep end a little bit – we won’t forget those birthdays.

“It wasn’t snowing when we came in then we had a little walk in Leazes Park and the blizzard started.

“We picked the names because we liked them. We had Anna right at the start then we struggled for a boy’s name. We came across that and we really liked it.”

The region’s first arrival of the New Year is a son born to Leigh Oldham at 12.22am at the RVI.

Ms Oldham, from Walker in Newcastle, went into labour on Wednesday night, and said: “It’s quite exciting. I felt the pains but I went to bed with a hot water bottle and thought nothing of it.

“But at 1am I woke my mum and we phoned the hospital. The pains started getting worse and worse so I had to come in.

“The weather wasn’t that bad. My dad’s a taxi driver so he brought me over with my mam and aunty.”

The child, who weighed in 7lb 14oz, hasn’t yet been named, but Ms Oldham is thinking about the name Joe.

At 2.21am little baby Niamah was born to Kelly Noon at the RVI.

The first baby born in Northumberland in 2010 came at 12.24am, when Samantha Denton, of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, gave birth to Caitlin Rachel Denton. Samantha, 18, who lives with her parents at Moorcross, was due to give birth to her first child on December 21 but she did not go into labour until 6am on New Year’s Eve.

Samantha, a carer at Travis Park care home in Morpeth, was admitted to the delivery suite at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington 12 hours later.

She said: “We were thinking she was coming on New Year’s Eve but she wanted to wait.”

Caitlin – whose father is Samantha’s boyfriend Darren Bain – weighed in at 7lb 12oz. The new mother described her daughter as a “nice start to the new year”.

New Year babies were also recorded at Alnwick Infirmary, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead and Sunderland Royal Hospital.