'A wonderful surprise': New Year babies in UAE

Dubai: As UAE residents marked the start of 2016 with revelry, for some the joy was doubled — they welcomed a new member of the family into the world.

It was boys all the way at Latifa Hospital in Dubai, which witnessed the birth of two Emiratis and one Indian. “The children were born healthy and are doing fine,” said a nurse on duty at maternity ward of Latifa Hospital.

In RAK Hospital, a girl was born on Friday afternoon; and both mother and daughter are reported to be doing well.

In Abu Dhabi, the first baby at Corniche Hospital, the leading maternity hospital in the capital, was born at 3.34am.

Baby boy Zayed Bader Al Khoury , a UAE national, was comfortably wrapped in a vibrant blue blanket. His proud mother, Shaima Abdul Gaffar Al Khoury, said: “What a lovely start to our new year. 2016 will always remain the best year of our lives.”

The Corniche Hospital’s second newborn girl, Mariam Saeed Bin Al Zwaa, a Yemeni, was brought into the world at 7.38am on Friday.

“I never imagined my baby’s birth would happen on the first day of the New Year. We are blessed to receive such a wonderful surprise on this day,” the baby’s mother said.

In Sharjah, a baby boy was born at 12.49am to an Indian couple.

The first baby to be born in Sharjah was a boy at 11.05am on January 1 at Sharjah’s Al Qasimi Hospital. His father, Algerian expat Kareem Dijabri, said he felt blessed.

A girl named Fadhila was the last baby born at 11.35pm on Thursday in Al Qasimi Hospital to an Algerian couple.