TWO new bundles of joy, with Mansfield connections, entered the world at Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) on New Year's Day.
Enjoying celebrations on the family farm near Boorolite, Terry Allen said she and partner Andy had been patiently awaiting the arrival of daughter Cydie, enjoying a spit roast meal with family and playing Mario Kart to ring in the New Year.
Terry said Cydie had initially been expected to arrive on December 29 and, when her waters broke 20 minutes into 2023, the first–time mother quickly rushed to Mansfield Health before being directed to NHW.
"On New Year's Eve we had a little spit roast with the family and played Mario Kart until 12 o'clock, and as soon as it hit 12.01, we were kind of like 'well we've made it, we can go to sleep now'," she said.
"It was a funny feeling, like I had this sudden burst of energy."
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Entering the world shortly after 11am, the coincidence of Cydie's birth date was not lost on Terry, who said the 11.23am delivery on January 1, 2023 (1/1/23) had been the talk of the maternity ward.
"The midwife was telling everyone," she laughed.
Cydie has since returned to the family farm 20 minutes outside of Mansfield, which also houses Terry's father and brother in nearby homes.
Despite a challenging first 24 hours, the family had been quick to shower newborn Cydie in plenty of love, a sentiment which didn't appear to be slowing down, according to Terry.
"The last two nights have been quite tricky, she hasn't slept and she's just wanting to feed, but they're all good signs I've been told," Terry said.
"I feel like everything's going really right – she didn't latch on for the first 24 hours, so that was a bit of a worry – but she's feeding like an absolute champ now.
"We've got two dogs, one being a Jack Russell who has not taken his eyes off her since she got home, so I think they're going to be quite protective of her – she's going to be a farm girl.
"Her grandfather (Terry's dad) lives on the farm as well – Andy only stayed in the hospital the first night and had dinner with them on the second night and apparently Dad was saying 'I can't wait until Cydie cracks it with her parents and comes over here because I'm going to give her whatever she wants.'
"Our houses are only about 100m away from each other so it makes it a bit extra special."
A short walk down the maternity ward, Benalla mother Hannah Beaumont was preparing to welcome her second child, 18 months after welcoming son Luca into the world.
Also hailing from farmland between Benalla and Mansfield, Hannah said the arrival of her newborn son had come as less of a surprise, opting for a caesarean section delivery.
"The baby was planned to come after New Year's, but due to my first son being a bit of a traumatic birth, we had to go ahead and have a caesarean, so his arrival was a bit more planned," she said.
"I saw the doctor on (the) Friday and she said 'look bubby's a bit big, we want to try and look after you, do you want a caesarean?' and I said 'well no not really'.
"I actually was up milking cows that morning, and then I came in to have my baby.
"He's wonderful – my first son was pretty good but this one's even better – I got very lucky.
"It's another little person to run around on the farm and give us a hand with the poddy calves when he's older – he'll be a farm kid for sure."
