BELIZE CITY, Wed. Jan. 3, 2018– While Belize’s cycling community had their minds fixed on the annual KREM New Year’s Day Cycling Classic, and over a hundred eager cyclists dreamt of being first across the finishing line, a goodly number of expectant Belizean mothers, and expectant fathers, were experiencing their own nervous moments. For a number of families, it was all smiles on New Year’s Day, after nine long months of wait and sometimes worry.
At the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), the family of Arlene Burgess of Gardenia was the first to experience the joy, and relief, of a new birth. Her baby girl (yet unnamed), weighing eight pounds twelve ounces, came into the world at 12:52 a.m. A few hours later, at 4:39 a.m., the Castillo family of Belize City got their new bundle of joy at the KHMH, when Elizabeth Castillo delivered a seven-pound ten-ounce baby boy.
In all, thirteen new Belizeans entered the world on New Year’s Day. The Belize Health Information System indicated that there were four babies born in Belize City, three in Dangriga, three in Belmopan, two in Orange Walk Town, and one in Punta Gorda.
Burgess’ newborn is her fourth child, and Castillo’s baby is her first. All the new mothers who gave birth on January 1, and their babies, are expected to receive gifts, but the first two who were born at the KHMH received theirs at a small ceremony, courtesy of the San Cas Group, and James Brodie & Co. Ltd.
The San Cas Group’s gift package contained Huggies pampers, Kotex, Seven Seas, Ovaltine, and Dutch Lady Milk. All thirteen babies will receive gifts. James Brodie & Co. presented gifts of Johnson and Johnson products.
-contributed-