Meet “Clarita,” B.C.’s first baby of 2020.
She was born at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at New Westminster’s Royal Columbian Hospital, nine days before mom’s scheduled C-section. She weighed 4 lbs, 10 oz.
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It was a bittersweet moment for mother Claire Tabuada and her husband Jhamel, whose first child, Jayden, was stillborn at 37 weeks.
“With the history that we have…and having this in our arms it’s priceless, very priceless,” Tabuada said as she held Clarita.
The couple didn’t tell family back in the Philippines about the pregnancy, saying they chose to “keep it quiet just because of what happened last time.”
She said her family was ecstatic when she shared a photo of the newborn.
“Everybody was shocked,” she said. “On the picture it was all emojis.”
Fraser Health says mother and child are doing well.
For now the couple has nicknamed their baby Clarita, but will soon decide on a legal name.
“We’re just debating what name we are going to have because I have so much in my head,” Tabuada said.