Joan and Anthony McGrath with children Enda, Conor and newborn baby Anita
THERE were extra special celebrations for the McGrath family in Newtownbutler last week when they welcomed Fermanagh’s only New Year baby into the world.
Little Anita McGrath was born at the South West Acute Hospital at 12.39am on January 1, weighing in at a healthy 7lb14, making her the first arrival in the county this year and only the second baby born in all of the North in 2016.
Mum Joan said the entire family were “absolutely delighted” at Anita’s arrival, especially having a little girl. “It’s brilliant, the boys are over the moon,” she said, referring to Anita’s big brothers seven-year-old Conor and three-and-a-half-year-old Enda.
Dad Anthony said they weren’t expecting her to arrive on New Year’s Day: “Joan was due on New Year’s Eve, but you never do know who these things will go.
She went a week over one of the times before. She was the only one born in the hospital on that day. It was great. ”
Anthony said Anita would be well looked after by the men in the house. “She’ll be spoiled, that’s for sure,” he quipped.
Newborn baby Anita McGrath
Joan, who was in labour for two-and-a-half hours after being taken in on New Year’s Eve, said all the midwives and maternity staff in the hospital were also delighted with the new arrival.
“I was in the full throes of labour as the New Year came in,” she laughed. “The midwives were all so excited and asked me if I was excited too, all I could say was I was in pain!”
Despite being in the last stages of pregnancy, Joan said it was “far from a quiet Christmas” in the McGrath household. He brother’s wife had a little boy, Luke, in early December, while her other brother returned home from Australia to get married.
“My brother’s wife was due on Christmas Day, but the baby came a little bit early,” she said. “Then I had a brother who came home from Melbourne and got married on December 29 in St Michael’s and then at the Lough Erne, so we had a big family wedding too.
They’re off in Iceland on their honeymoon now, so they’ve not met Anita yet. They text me to say happy New Year and I replied to say I’d just had a wee girl!”
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