Dubai: Dmitry Petrus who was born on Sunday has something very strangely common with his great- grandfather and his father.
All three of them were born on the tenth day of the month. Dmitry missed being born at 10 o'clock on 10-10-10 by just an hour. His mother Raquel Oldenburg gave birth to him at 11.02am yesterday at City Hospital.
The baby was supposed to be delivered on October 25, but the mother went into labour earlier. "We have been living in Dubai for 10 years," said Raquel, a Brazilian married to Ron Oldenburg, a Dutch national, who was also born on the 10th, but in November.
Ten babies were born yesterday at the hospital. "This was not something we planned," said Dr Ebrahim Abdul Rahman, consultant gynaecologist at the hospital.
The couple had been planning a baby for the past 10 years and Raquel had also tried IVF (in vitro fertilisation), but nothing had worked earlier.
The babies at this hospital came within an hour of each other. The first one was born at 6.52am, the second at 7.20am, and the seventh was born at 3.20pm. The rest of the babies were still being born when Gulf News visited the hospital.
"It's like a baby factory," said a hospital staffer as we walked the corridor. In front of the doors were pink and blue balloons. "Pink means the baby inside the room is a girl. Blue, a boy," he said.
Melvina McEwan also gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday. "We were given an option [of the baby being delivered yesterday]," said the mother. The South African who is married to an Australian, said she was "overwhelmed [at being a mother]." This is the couple's first baby. "This one's very precious,", she said, kissing the baby boy. She believes the numbers 10-10-10 are lucky.
Many people believe that the day, October 10, 2010 is lucky. Many had planned their wedding on this day and many companies also inaugurated new ventures yesterday.
