The island welcomed two babies during Hurricane Imelda, the hospital has confirmed.
A spokesperson said, “Bermuda Hospitals Board is happy to announce the birth of baby Gosai Pritmani, baby GP for short, during storm conditions at 7:47pm on Wednesday 1 October.
“Baby GP, a boy, is the first born of parents Niraj Pritmani and his wife Sonam Gosai Pritmani.”
“We had a visit with our gynaecologist, Dr Reese yesterday morning,” said Ms Gosai Pritmani, “because yesterday was actually the due date.”
“At around 11am we were not sure if Sonam was just having cramps of if they were contractions,” said Mr Pritmani. “But they went from manageable to intense, so we decided to come to the hospital at around 2pm,” he added.
A spokesperson added, “Soon the contractions were coming faster, and the pain was increasing and by 4pm Ms Gosai Pritmani was in labour.”
“I was so lucky that it went that quickly,” said Mr Pritmani. “Because she was deemed to be in active labour, I was allowed to stay with her and was here for the birth,” he added. “Had she not been in active labour, I would have had to go home and then request a Police escort to come back to the hospital after 4pm.”
A spokesperson added, “The couple said they had considered leaving the island for the birth as they were always concerned that a hurricane might happen when they needed to go to the hospital.”
“It was our number one fear, but many we talked to convinced us that the odds of that happening were extremely low, so we stayed and it turned out to be perfect,” said the new mom.
A spokesperson added, “GP is just a holding name for the 7pound 2-ounce Hindu baby who will be named, in accordance with Hindu tradition, 11 days from his birth. His time of birth and other birth date details have been sent to a Hindu pundit to work out the name he should have.”
“It will be based on sound but is unlikely to be Humberto or Imelda,” his dad said.
A spokesperson added, “Bermuda Hospitals Board also welcomed, Franklin Roy Mayor during the storm. Franklin was born at 6:40am on Thursday 2 October to Lucy and Stephen Mayor. Franklin is the Mayor’s first child and weighed 7pounds 5 ounces.”
Franklin was due on 30 September and his parents although given the option to check-in to Maternity for the storm, decided to stay with relatives close by on Laurel Lane. Father Stephen Mayor said when his wife Lucy was having contractions 4 minutes apart, they decided it best “to roll down the road to the Maternity Unit.” It was 2:45am.
“Lucy went straight into delivery when we got here,” he said. “The hospital staff and the Maternity team were absolutely amazing from the time we arrived at the front door. They could not have done more for us,” he added. “Dr Reese and our nurse Lilia, a midwife, were absolutely incredible. We thank the entire Maternity team,” said Lucy.
