Double celebrations for families as babies make Christmas debuts

SENAN O’REILLY was the first of six babies born in Erinville and St Finbarr’s maternity hospitals in Cork on Christmas Day.

Son of proud mother, Lorraine Carr from Conna, Co Cork, young Senan made his debut at just two minutes past midnight and weighed in at 6lbs 3oz.

St Finbarr’s had two Christmas Day deliveries while the Erinville had four.

Clinical midwife manager of the Unified Maternity Services, Monica Harrington, said that it was busy in both maternity hospitals from midnight until about 6am on Christmas Day.

“It is always lovely to see children being born on the Nativity and we always try and let the mothers and their babies go home as soon as possible so they can enjoy a double celebration,” she said.

While it was generally quiet in the maternity wards of both hospitals on Christmas Day the neo-natal units remained busy places for the nurses.

Ms Harrington also pointed out that this Christmas was also the last that both hospitals would exist in their present location.

Maternity services in both hospitals, together with the maternity unit at the Bons Secours Hospital, would be transferring to Cork University Maternity Hospital in March. And the first baby born in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin on Christmas Day was actually two days late in making her arrival.

Megan Farrell made her entrance at 3.38am, weighing 7lb 13 oz. Proud mum Sinead Farrell from Leixlip, Co Kildare, said her daughter was a lovely Christmas surprise because she was meant to be born on December 23.

Sinead and her husband, Michael, already have four children aged between 16 and two.

Meanwhile, baby Dean Friel possibly set a world record to join his family for his first Christmas dinner.

He was born in the early hours of Christmas morning — and less than nine hours later was at home in his cradle alongside parents Mark Friel and Helen Bonner as they settled down to Christmas Day lunch.

Baby Dean was born in Letterkenny General Hospital, Donegal, at 4am and by 1pm he was in his home in the Fanad peninsula of Co Donegal meeting his five-year-old big sister Megan for the first time.

Bonner said yesterday: “I was so determined to be at home for Megan on Christmas Day so we couldn’t have planned it any better.”

Dean, who weighed in at 6lbs 9ozs, wasn’t due until today but in the early hours of Monday Bonner knew the birth was imminent.

She said: “I wanted to wait until Santa had come. However, in the end we had to rush to the hospital and I was there just half an hour when he was born.”