Nappy new year for parents of 1-1-11 babies

Nadia Regues Naguib causes a scare before becoming the first baby to be born in the capital in 2011 at Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi, just 15 minutes after the country rang in the New Year.

Hessa al Omairi is the first Emirati baby born in 2011 at the Corniche Hospital early yesterday morning.

Fifteen minutes into the new year, Nadia Regues Naguib opened her eyes for the first time at Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi. She weighed in at 3.2kg.

Her parents, Pablo Regues, 33, and Nagla Naguib, 33, were thrilled at the new addition to the family.

"Two-and-half years ago we met in the Republic of Dominica, it was love at first sight, then he went back to Spain, and I to England but we had a long-distance relationship," Mrs Naguib said. "We got married last April and this is our first, and was a honeymoon baby.

"We moved here from England only three months ago, on a new job, new house, new life, and now a new baby," she added.

But all did not go smoothly. A few hours before the birth, the parents were given worrying news. Mr Regues spent most of the night fretting about the fate of his wife and daughter.

"There were problems in the baby's heartbeat, so they had to do an emergency C-section," Mr Regues, of Spain, said. "At this point we really did not care when the baby would be born, just that she is healthy."

"Now I feel so happy, yesterday was quite intense," Mr Regues said. "This is the first girl in our extended family, everyone is excited, everything will change."

Just one floor down, the first Emirati baby at Corniche Hospital was born. Hessa, a 3kg girl was born at 3.45am to Noura and Hamad al Omairi.

"She was the second baby born in the hospital, and I really had no idea of that date and I didn't realise she was actually born in the new year until my sister and family told me," Mrs al Omairi said.

The mother, who delivered two weeks early, was rushed to the hospital at 10pm as soon as her water broke. "It was so hard and painful, same as the last one, but maybe because this is fresh in my memory so it hurts," she said.

Her sister, Fatima al Omairi, was so excited by the prospect of the new arrival that she arrived at the hospital 25 minutes before the mother. "I was more excited than she was, five minutes and I was here," Ms al Omairi said. "The baby's room is ready, it is yellow, white and pink."

In Dubai, Oliver James Fray, a 3.2kg boy, was born at 5.20am to Gregg and Hana Fray.

Their New Year's Eve festivities were abandoned after Mrs Fray had contractions at 9pm, even though she was not certain they were "real".

"We're not like party animals - we chose one night to go out - it was typical that the baby would want to come and join in," Mrs Fray said. "I always wanted to watch all the fireworks - I wondered if I could stay longer to see the fireworks."

One hour later, however, they realised the seriousness of the situation and rushed through traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road to get to Medcare hospital.

"It was crowded, I'm glad we didn't wait much longer or else the traffic would have been worse," Mr Fray, 33, from England, said.

Still in their party clothes, they were greeted with big smiles by nurses at the hospital when they arrived at 11.45pm, all eagerly awaiting the hospital's first newborn. "It was quiet comical - until it got serious," Mr Fray said. "The hospital staff were really excited."

The father, who said that the date 1-1-11 had also contributed to the excitement of a New Year's Day baby, feels "absolutely fantastic about being a dad", now that the birth is over.

Down south, Oasis hospital in Al Ain had its first arrival at 12.08 am, a 3.43kg boy born to an Omani family.

Ghayt al Ghaithi, the son of Said al Ghaithi, was born after six hours of labour on his original due date, something doctors said was rare. "The feeling cannot be described, it was a nice coincidence that he was born today, inshallah it is a good omen for a good year," said Mr al Ghaithi, 28.