New Year 2024 brings forth baby Jhaiden

Ronalyn Concepcion, 23, and husband John Michael Dizon ended three years of trying to bring their first child into the world at the stroke of midnight, heralding the first day of 2024 on Monday.

Concepcion gave birth to a bouncing baby boy she named Jhaiden Railey at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, leaving Dizon close to tears.

The mother's wish for Jhaiden? For him to grow healthy as she recounted in an interview over ABS-CBN that it was very difficult having a first baby, but everything turned out "okay."

Dizon was exulting as he narrated how long they'd waited for a baby, vowing to "do everything" to secure his future.

An official of the hospital said there were fewer deliveries this New Year's Day than in previous years, when they had dozens of women going into labor close to midnight. 

"We were expecting 20 to 30 patients would go into labor this day," Dr. Brenan Ian Capuno told the TV station in Filipino.

The fewer deliveries came despite the easing of Covid-19 restrictions where Fabella no longer required mothers to be tested for the virus.

Gifts of clothing and newborn essentials await Jhaiden, Capuno said, explaining that it was a tradition for the hospital to have a New Year's Day baby.