First New-born at KHMH Arrived at 12:15 to Mother from Hattieville

Every year, we eagerly await the announcement of the first baby born in the new year. While the news varies across the six districts, at K.H.M.H., the first baby of 2025 arrived at 12:15 a.m. on January first. The proud mom, nineteen-year-old Glenda Pop from Hattieville Village, welcomed her second child. Today, Glenda and her newborn were discharged from the hospital after receiving traditional gifts from San Cas Limited, a heartwarming tradition they’ve upheld for the past two decades. News Five’s Marion Ali was on the scene to capture the joyous moments and filed this report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

While Belizeans were out celebrating the arrival of 2025, one woman was making her way to the maternity ward to welcome her second son. Nineteen-year-old Glenda Pop from Hattieville didn’t expect to ring in the new year in labor, as her due date was set for Friday, January third. But life had other plans, and she ended up ushering in 2025 with the birth of her baby boy.

 

Glenda Pop, Mother of New Year’s Baby

“Dem give me 3rd of January.”

 

Marion Ali

“And he surprised you.”

 

Glenda Pop

“Yes.”

 

Marion Ali

“What’s his name?”

 

Glenda Pop

“Well, I no find for him name yet.”

 

Sister Estella Flowers, Manager, Maternity Ward, K.H.M.H

“When 12 o’clock came, she was fully dilated and ready to push, and she pushed, you know, she delivered a healthy male neonate at twelve-fifteen a.m., weighing six pound three ounces.”

 

Sister Estella Flowers, who oversees the K.H.M.H Maternity Ward, shared with reporters that Glenda Pop arrived at the hospital around 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. She mentioned that, aside from Glenda’s delivery of her newborn son, it was an unusually quiet New Year’s Day at the hospital.

 

Sister Estella Flowers

“We were expecting three to four mothers, but she was the only one and still only the only one. We just had a delivery yesterday on the second. So, she was the only one for 24 hours.”

 

As her blessings from San Cas Limited, Glenda received a hamper with goodies and necessities worth around a hundred dollars.

 

Aisha Trapp, Marketing Manager, San Cas Ltd.

“The items are selected based on the policies from the hospital, putting breastfeeding first, of course. We don’t give any milk substitutes in the package. We give Ovaltine, which helps with the production of breast milk. We also give 7Cs vitamins. We give, of course, Huggies diapers and wipes and we give Jergens products which, of course, adds to self care for the mom. We know that after having a newborn, it’s very tough on the mom, so we do give products for the mom and baby. – Kotex, of course, for mommy. So we’ve added a little every year, based on the policy of the hospital, and we do check with them before we give the packages.”

 

Marketing Manager for San Cas Limited, Aisha Trapp says the twenty-plus-year tradition of giving to first-borns on New Years is extended to all the districts.

 

Aisha Trapp 

“We don’t only give the baby born at K.H.M.H, but we do give babies from all different public hospitals. We’ve checked, and so far, San Ignacio had a baby boy. He was born 12:02 a.m., and Dangriga had three. It had two females and one male. The first female was born at 9:02 a.m., so, we continue to check and see if any other babies were born. We did check also the private hospitals because we do give all the babies that were born for the new year a package.”

 

Glenda Pop

“I never know if I’m gonna get this, so, I say thanks to you all.”

 

Glenda Pop was overjoyed with the gifts that came with the arrival of her second child, another baby boy. At just nineteen, she’s already decided that two is enough for her.

 

Marion Ali

“You plan on having more New Year’s babies?”

 

Glenda Pop

“No, I don’t want no more.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.