Hohhot welcomes first babies of 2018

A boy was born 16 minutes after midnight on New Year Day at Hohhot No 1 Hospital –– the first Hohhot-born baby of 2018.

"It wasn't an easy labor," said Liu Peifeng, a nurse at the hospital, adding that the mom and the newborn were both "feeling great".

Liu noted that there were 10 more lucky couples at the hospital celebrating the arrivals of new babies who had been born on the first day of 2018.

Soon after the baby boy's birth, staff in hospitals around the city were delivering more children being born on the first day of the year. 

At 12:50 am on Jan 1, a first-time mother gave birth to a boy at Inner Mongolia Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital in the city. The baby arrived weighing 3.5 kg.

The baby was due Dec 28, but being a few days late pushed the birth into 2018. 

"The labor was really long. I didn't think he'd be a New Year's baby at all, but I'm happy he is," said new father Wang Peng.

"I'm so excited to start the New Year with him," Wang added.

The couple haven't yet decided on a name.

According to official data, a total of 42 babies were born at hospitals in Hohhot on the first day of the new year.