Baby Shammah Jane Bolon with her mother, 19-year-old Mary Rose. (Photo by RICHARD A. REYES/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Updated: 1:16 a.m., Jan. 2, 2017
Say hello to a bouncing New Year baby girl, Shamah Jane Bolon, who was born at exactly midnight at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Santa Cruz, Manila.
The baby, who weighs 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds), is the second child of 19-year-old Mary Rose Bolon and jeepney barker Delmar Valderas, both from Caloocan City.
“I really did not expect I’ll give birth on New Year. But I am really happy,” Bolon told the Inquirer as she waited for her partner to come to the hospital from Cavite province. “I was surprised, but the child is a blessing to me,” she said.
She said the baby’s name Shamah, a Bible character which means “the Lord is there,” and Jane were all ideas of Delmar’s mother.
Her first child, John Godfrey, is 10 months old.
About a minute after Shamah Jane was born, Joy de Castro gave birth by Caesarean section to Simon James. The boy weighed 3.3 kg (7.2 pounds).
De Castro said she was supposed to give birth in the third week of January.
Simon James is the third son of Joy and her partner, a construction worker.
At Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, also in Manila, 21-year-old Kisslyn Purificacion gave birth to her first son.
She has yet to choose a name for her child, her mother said.
Purificacion waited for three hours at the hospital while watching doctors and nurses attend to victims of shooting incidents and fireworks-related injuries. /ATM