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Wish comes true for National Day baby’s dad

SINGAPORE — Two Singaporean couples became first-time parents at the stroke of midnight on National Day.

Matheus Tan was born at the stroke of midnight to Ms Soh Bei En and Mr Tan Shi Chang. Matheus was overdue by six days from his estimated delivery date of Aug 3. Photo: Mount Alvernia Hospital

Matheus Tan was born at the stroke of midnight to Ms Soh Bei En and Mr Tan Shi Chang. Matheus was overdue by six days from his estimated delivery date of Aug 3. Photo: Mount Alvernia Hospital

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SINGAPORE — Two Singaporean couples became first-time parents at the stroke of midnight on National Day.

Matheus Tan was delivered naturally an hour-and-a-half after his homemaker mum Soh Bei En, 29, went into labour at Mount Alvernia Hospital.

Weighing a healthy 3.83kg, Matheus was overdue by six days from his estimated delivery date of Aug 3.

His father, human resources (HR) executive Tan Shi Chang, 34, had jokingly asked the nurse if they could aim for a National Day baby when they had found out about his delivery date.

So yesterday, Ms Soh said: “I guess the baby wanted to make his father’s wish come true.”

Over at Raffles Hospital, Emir Rayhan surprised his dad, airport emergency services officer Eddy Kulniawan, 28, and mum, Housing and Development Board administrative executive Rabitah Razali, 28, by arriving much earlier than anticipated.

The 3.295kg baby was not expected to be born until Aug 21, but decided to make his appearance at the stroke of midnight after an 18-hour-long natural labour.

A third Singaporean couple, general manager Chua Yong Hin, 30, and HR manager Chia Sei Min, 31, welcomed their second son, weighing 2.775kg, at Parkway East Hospital half a minute after midnight.

“More than a week ago, my wife had a feeling that this child will come out on National Day. That feeling was very strong,” said Mr Chua.

They checked the Chinese calendar and found that Aug 9 would result in the new baby sharing the same Chinese birthday as their two-year-old elder son, Kuang Hao, so they wished that could happen. And it did.

Mr Chua said: “We hope that he can grow up healthy, love his family, friends and country, and most importantly, like my father always tells me, be useful and give back to society.”

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