It's time to meet Scotland's Christmas babies
THE “best present ever” came with the birth of babies across Scotland on Christmas Day.
GETTY
The first newborn came “10 seconds” after the stroke of midnight when Karen Ratcliffe brought her first child into the world at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Karen, 36 – a doctor at the hospital – said: “He was due in January, so we weren’t expecting him, but having him on Christmas is quite exciting. His head was out at 11.59pm and his body came out just seconds after midnight. He’s been great, a very calm baby.”
Mrs Ratcliffe and her engineer husband Michael, 33, from Glasgow, were looking forward to taking the little boy, who they hadn’t yet named, home today.
Over on the east coast, baby Lucilia Confortola was the first to arrive on Christmas Day.
Related articles
GETTY
Now, I’m just looking towards going home to get Christmas dinner, which I’ll be cooking
Weighing 7lbs 7doz, she was born at 14 minutes past midnight at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Her pround parents, Amy Confortola and Kenny Lindsay, are from the city’s Gilmerton.
Victoria Watson, 35, gave birth to Noah at home in Airdrie at 2.12am.
The baby, weighing 8lbs, came two days later than due, but was now the “best Christmas present ever” for his older brother, Ben.
GOOGLE MAPS
Her firefighter husband, Stuart, 39, delivered his son with help over the phone from a midwife. And Victoria said: “It was quite a nice experience – no stress at all.”
Mary Ferguson, of Maryhill, Glasgow, had her second child, 7lb 11oz Lucy, at 12.10am – and had no plans to hang about.
Mary, who gave birth at the city’s Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, said: “Now, I’m just looking towards going home to get Christmas dinner, which I’ll be cooking. I feel fine.”
Lucy was due on the 27th, so it was a bit of a shock for Mary and her partner Paul Hampson when labour started on Sunday. But the newborn has come as a surprise gift for her five-year-old brother, Keiran.
GETTY
Mary added: “She’s a great Christmas present. He’s been involved all the way through the pregnancy, he’s just saying he can’t wait to see her.”
In Ayrshire Maternity Unit, the first to arrive was baby girl Harris at 3.17am, weighing 8lbs 2oz.
She came as a “lovely” Christmas present for mum Laura Hunter and dad Paul MacLeod from Ayr.
And in Aberdeen, Pitmedden parents Nataleigh and Stephen McGonagle welcomed their second child at 5.39am. But the 6lbs 4doz boy will have to wait before he can meet his big sister Orla – because the two-year-old has chicken pox.
