WHILE many of us were opening presents on Christmas day, an overjoyed group of new parents were given the greatest gift of all.
The maternity ward at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital welcomed 14 little bundles of joy into the world on December 25.
Police parents Leanne Walsh and Luke Mitchell welcomed their second baby, Euan James Mitchell, into the world on Christmas Day.
Leanne, 31, who lives in Bush Close in Toddington, went into labour on Christmas Eve when she was out, and by 2.31am had given birth to her 7lb10 baby boy.
Euan is little brother to 2-year-old Harrison who was born on August 26 2009.
Leanne said: “The staff were so lovely and I was back at home by 11am. Fortunately I didn’t still have to cook Christmas dinner!”
Little baby Mohammad Ali Bashar was born at 3.55am to Rashida Parveen and Abdul Yasir Bashar of Newark Road in Luton.
Mohammad Ali is the second child of proud mum Rashida, 22, as she also has a daughter called Hafsah Yasir Bashar who is four and will celebrate her birthday tomorrow.
Proud new parents Mukund and Manisha Katechia welcomed their first child into the world when Manisha gave birth to a little girl at 2.02am. Little baby Katechia, mum and dad are still coming up with a name, was due in early January, but her early birth came as no surprise to overjoyed dad Mukund. He said: “All our relatives said the baby would be born in December, they said Manisha wouldn’t go until January.
“Our family came over from Singapore and said she had to have the baby early as they wanted to see her before they went home.”
Mum and baby were kept in hospital until Thursday as she was born a little light at 5lb 4ozs, but is settling in to their Icknield home.
Mukund said: “It’s great to have her home. It’s quite surreal, we don’t quite know what to expect, you can read a book and watch about babies on TV but you don’t know until you have one.”
Delighted mum Monika Chrupek gave birth to her second daughter at the L&D at 2.39pm on Christmas day. Little baby Sara weighed in at 7lb 7ozs.
> For more pictures and a full round up of Christmas Day babies, pick up a copy of next week’s Luton News/Dunstable gazette out on Wednesday.