Some of Canada’s newest parents rang in the new year by welcoming the first babies born in 2020 moments after the stroke of midnight.
In Quebec, baby Henri made his appearance at a Laval hospital just 32 seconds into the New Year, according to l’Hopital de la Cite-de-la-Sante.
Father Marc-Andre Baillargeon admitted he’d been “watching the clocks” in the hospital after doctors decided to perform a C-section at around 11:30 p.m.
Henri’s early-morning appearance was none too soon for Baillargeon and his partner, Amelie Bouchard, who had been eagerly awaiting their baby’s arrival ever since his Dec. 20 due date.
Henri, who was a healthy 9 pounds, 6 oz at birth, was decked out in a tiny white knit hat emblazoned with the date “2020” to mark the occasion.
The first baby born in British Columbia came at 12:01 a.m. at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
Fraser Health says the girl, who has been nick-named Clarita, was delivered by emergency C-section at 35 weeks into her mother Claire’s pregnancy and weighed 4 pounds, 10 oz.
The health authority says the 39-year-old mother’s first child was stillborn, delivered in 2017 at 37 weeks, so Clarita’s premature birth was especially emotional for her parents.
At exactly the same time, at 12:01 a.m., Mohammed, a boy, was born at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital.
All of the new babies and their mothers are said to be doing well.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 1, 2020.