SINGAPORE — Actress Yvonne Lim and husband Alex Tien welcomed a baby boy today (Dec 27) at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.

The baby, named Alex after his father, was delivered via Caesarian section because he is large – he weighs in at 3.6kg – and “Yvonne is pretty petite”, the breathless new father shared over the telephone.

The couple, who got married on Sep 7 this year, had originally planned to have the baby on New Year’s Eve, but when they visited the gynaecologist on Christmas Eve, they were advised that sooner was better than later.

“We decided we should have Christmas dinner together and (have the baby) today,” Tien said. “We were also afraid a lot of people would try to have New Year babies and the hospital would be really busy.”

In the delivery room, “everything happened really fast”, Tien recounted. “We were chatting and then all of a sudden you could hear the baby crying.” For him, the experience was “shock and happiness combined with a little emotion. She cried; there was a little tear in my eye but I don’t think anybody saw it!”

As for the baby’s name, “The English name is Alex Junior and we call him A.J. It was my decision,” Tien chuckled. “Yvonne was a little bit against it at first, but she was okay with it later.” His Chinese name will subsequently be chosen by Tien’s father.

Lim, he said, “is doing quite okay – she has come back to the ward to rest a little bit. The gynaecologist is seeing her right now and the pediatrician just left. They say everything looks good right now.” He added: “I’m back to earth now. I was really nervous earlier! Everything went really well, so that’s nice.”

And as further proof that Lim, 38, is doing well, “She keeps saying she’s really hungry – which is good!”