Welcome to 2020: The decade's first babies arrive at St Thomas' Hospital

While the rest of us were ringing in the New Year, midwives at St Thomas' Hospital worked tirelessly to deliver the first babies of the decade to proud parents.

New Year’s Day saw the arrival of 17 babies at the hospital, with eight boys and nine girls born between 1.54am and 11.42pm.

First-time parents Yubing Zhu and Kenneth Ko welcomed their son, Finlay, into the world at 10.42am weighing 6lb 6oz.

Yubing, from Mile End in Tower Hamlets, said: “We were at a New Year’s Eve party and at 11pm I knew he was coming but I wanted to stay for the countdown. I was having contractions while Craig David was playing but I danced through them – it was nice to be distracted.”

The 31-year-old added: “It went as smooth as can be. We used the techniques we had learnt through hypnobirthing at home and got to the hospital at 8.30am. I went into the birthing pool and had paracetamol and gas and air, and two hours later he arrived.”

St Thomas’ Hospital sits yards away from the iconic London Eye, which hosts the New Year’s Eve firework display.

Kenneth, 32, said: “I was so glad that Finlay waited until New Year’s Day to arrive because all the roads were blocked and there was lots of traffic the night before due to the fireworks. It’s been an amazing start to the year.”

It proved a busy end to the year for midwives at St Thomas’ Hospital with 20 babies born on New Year’s Eve. Around 6,500 babies are born at the Trust each year.