Two parents received the perfect gift on New Year’s Day, as they welcomed their babies at the Savanna-La-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland for 2022.

Mitsy Billings of Kentucky district gave birth to a healthy baby girl, the first baby to be born in the parish on January 1. Her bundle of joy, Nyeka Foote, was born at 6:08 a.m., weighing 2.82 kilogrammes.

Billings told The Gleaner that while her newborn daughter is not her first child, it was the first time that she was receiving a congratulatory gift after leaving the delivery room.

“I am feeling great. I did not expect any present, and I never know that I would be surprised with such a lovely gift basket for me and my baby,” Billings said.

She said her delivery was seamless, “It wasn’t hard. I had my baby very easy.”

Odette Campbell of Broughton district in Little London, Westmoreland, delivered a boy on New Year’s Day. Her child weighed 2.49 kilogrammes.

These mothers were provided with gift baskets, compliments of a partnership between the hospital, the Rotary Club of Savanna-la-Mar, and the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Opal McKnight, patient services manager at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, said her team of healthcare workers are delighted to have delivered the parish’s first babies born on the first day of the year.

“This morning, our first baby for the New Year’s initiative, we welcomed a boy and a girl. We are happy for the partnerships we forged with the local business community to ensure our mothers and their babies were surprised with items to care for themselves and their babies,” she said.