New Year's newborns delight parents

By Tina Mata'afa-Tufele 02 January 2021, 12:00AM

The first five babies born in Samoa in 2021 delighted their parents but two were receiving special care at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital in Motootua on New Year's Day. 

Two girls and three boys were born on 1 January at the hospital in (shortly after noon on 1 January), according to Senior Nurse Specialist Ms. Robyn Roache-Lui Yuen.

The first to arrive was a baby girl, the very first child of Koreta Keti, 26, and her husband, Visesio Roma, 27, of Fusi, Safotulafai, Savai'i.

Samoa’s first baby of 2021 has yet to be named. 

Mrs. Keti said there were some complications during labor and delivery and she nearly lost her baby girl.

“I’m happy,” she told the Samoa Observer with obvious relief after a successful delivery.

The baby was placed on oxygen after birth to help assist with her breathing. 


Mrs Keti gave birth to her daughter at 2.34 am and her daughter weighed 2.8 kilograms.

The second child delivered on New Year’s Day was a baby boy born at 4.32 am to Maysabella Sio from Se’ese’e. He came into the world weighing 3.5 kilograms.

The third New Year’s Day baby, a girl weighing 3.6 kilograms, was born to Litia Mose from the village of Malie at 7.45 am.

All three babies were natural births.

In a Facebook post, Ms. Mose thanked God for the birth of her healthy baby girl; attempts to contact her were not successful. 

The third-born child of 1 January has been named Hanna Renae Lupesina. 

V.J. Taula has called the newborn girl his “precious gift of the New Year.”

The fourth and fifth babies, both boys, born on 1 January, were delivered via Caesarean Section (C-Section).

The fourth child was born at 10.23 am. 

The fifth was born at 1.18 pm weighing 4 kilograms.

The fourth baby was born premature and weighed just 1.1 kilograms.

Samoa’s first (girl) and fourth (boy) babies of 2021 were placed in special postnatal care in the nursery and required special medical attention. 

It is not clear if the babies and their mothers have since received clean bills of health for discharge from the hospital. 

The Observer could not obtain a photograph of the nation's first baby of the new year child despite other media outlets being allowed entry to the hospital to do so. 

The request for a photograph was denied personally by the Ministry’s Director-General, Leausa Take Dr. Naseri on Friday. Leausa did not return requests for comment on Saturday. 

By Tina Mata'afa-Tufele 02 January 2021, 12:00AM

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