Forget socks, smellies or chocolates. Some families received the greatest gift of all this Christmas - a new baby.
Forget socks, smellies or chocolates. Some families received the greatest gift of all this Christmas - a new baby.
The midwives at Newham University Hospital were kept busy delivering the tiny tots while the rest of us tucked into turkey dinners, but as these beautiful babies and their beaming parents show, it was all worth it.
Selina Khatun and Noshed Miah weren’t expecting to have a Christmas surprise - their son Rayyan wasn’t due until February 2.
“He was born early but he didn’t have to stay in long,” said Selina, who took her second child home to Grantham Road, Manor Park, on Saturday.
“It was a surprise as he wasn’t due until February but it’s all good.”
The proud parents may have some early sibling rivalry to contend with, if eldest son Zain’s initial reaction is anything to go by.
“When our other son, who’s two and a half, heard his daddy say ‘that’s my baby’ he started crying,” said Selina. “I think he was a bit jealous.”
Rayyan was just 2.5kg (5lb 6oz) when he was born, but the tot is already thriving and meeting the rest of his family.
Karolina Kacerauskaite’s daughter Amelia was one of the first to be born on Christmas Day, coming into the world at 1.13am.
The tot, who weighed 3.3kg (7lb 3oz), will go home to Hogarth Close, Beckton after being born four days past her due date.
One of the latest arrivals on Christmas Day was Silviya Gelova’s daughter Krisiya.
She was born at 10.56pm, weighing 3.6kg (7lb 9oz) and has an older sister, seven-year-old Denitsa, to look after her at home in Thorogood Gardens, Stratford.
There was cause for double celebration in the Vhora household as baby Ruhan’s festive arrival means he shares a birthday with his grandmother.
“It’s really nice for my mother, as I’m her only daughter,” said Tasnim, who lives in Flanders Road, East Ham, with her husband Bashir.
“She was really delighted.”
Ruhan, who weighed 3.01kg (6lb 6oz) is the couple’s first child and Tasnim said she will be spending the next few days relaxing at home with their new addition.
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