A big year for babies

St John of God welcomed a record number of new babies in 2010. At total of 485 babies were born at the private hospital last year, tipping 2009's record of 475. The battle of the sexes was won by the boys, with a total of 248 compared with 237 girls. Last year also saw eight sets of twins born at St John of God. Midwife Christine van Berkel said most years the number of boys compared to girls is fairly even. "It's great to see an increase in the number of new arrivals this year," she said. Working as a midwife at St John of God for many years, she said she still enjoys everyday. "It's a beautiful job."Mrs van Berkel said St John of God was looking forward to this year and had already had a boom January. "We've had 25 babies born in 20 days here, which is really busy," Mrs van Berkel said.The Ballarat Base hospital welcomed 1255 babies in 2010, 612 of which were boys and 643 girls. Eleven sets of twins were delivered. Ballarat mum Melissa Reiling has just welcomed into the world a new baby girl, Kye Eileen, at St John of God.Melissa and Colin Reiling have three other children and said that through the entire pregnancy the doctors couldn't give them a 100 per cent answer on whether it was a girl, but they still called her Belle. "It wasn't until two days before she was born we thought of the gender neutral name, Kye," Melissa said. Kye has two sisters and one brother that visit her every day in hospital and can't wait to have their new sister at home with them.The Babies of 2010 publication is inside tomorrow's issue of The Courier.