Baby Harrison was not going to be stripped of his title of Queanbeyan’s first 2018 baby when he came a few weeks early on New Year’s Day.
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Karabar residents and proud parents Caitlin Ginger and Thomas Hebblewhite were not given too much trouble with young Harrison after a labour lasting only a couple of hours.
“I was quite shocked because it was 9.30 at night, but still the first baby born in Queanbeyan so that was nice,” Ms Ginger said.
“We were hoping he’d at least wait until 2018, which he did,” Mr Hebblewhite added.
Experiencing the birth of his first child was interesting for Mr Hebblewhite who may not have had a typical first reaction.
“I actually frantically ran around and cleaned the kitchen when her waters broke for some reason,” he said.
“It needed to be done, so why not do it before we had the baby,” Ms Ginger said with a laugh.
Once that important task was out of the way, the couple dropped off Ms Ginger’s four-year-old daughter Hailey with a friend and made their way to Queanbeyan Hospital.
“It was just fantastic,” Ms Ginger said of the maternity ward.
“I was so impressed with all the midwives.
“They were constantly telling me I was doing a great job even though I was screaming the hospital down.”
The Queanbeyan Hospital maternity ward continues to receive praise as more and more women choose to give birth there. The ward experienced a 44 per cent increase in patients in July to September compared with the previous year.
Mr Hebblewhite and Ms Ginger happily brought their son home less than 24 hours after the birth. He weighed in at 3.6 kilograms and measured 47 centimetres long.
After a few bouts of sibling jealousy Hailey has been eager to help, even with changing nappies, which is an offer her mother may eventually not be able to refuse.
Harrison’s big half-sister may have also provided the best reaction to the birth when she informed Mr Hebblewhite that ‘Mummy just peed on the couch’. Upon hearing that in fact her waters had broken, young Hailey grabbed her mother’s water bottle and said ‘no it hasn’t’.
