Wagga has experienced a mini baby boom.
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Last week, staff at the Wagga Rural Referral Hospital delivered 31 babies, a figure well above the average of 20.
The hospital’s clinical midwife educator Colleen Paech said on two separate days last week, staff delivered eight babies.
The week also saw the arrival of two sets of twins, and on Saturday there were six babies delivered – all girls.
The maternity unit in the old Wagga Base Hospital building averaged only 12 to 15 deliveries a week.
Ms Paech joked that the deliveries had started to increase in frequency with the storms that hit the region.
Lily and John Weymouth have welcomed twin girls, Indi Rae and Kenna Rose.
The girls were born at just short of 36 weeks gestation. Indi weighed in at 2.2 kilograms, while Kenna was a little lighter at 2.15kg.
For the Weymouths, the girls’ delivery was a little unexpected.
The couple had come to Wagga from Hay for what they had expected to be a routine check-up, but the sisters had other ideas.
It was just the latest surprise the tiny pair have sprung on their mum and dad, who were overseas when they found out they were going to be parents.
The Weymouths picked up a new car on the day a pre-natal scan revealed not one, but two tiny heartbeats.
“We were wondering whether we should have bought a bigger car,” Ms Weymouth said.
“We really weren’t expecting to see two heartbeats,” Mr Weymouth said.
The girls will be heading home to Hay with their mum and dad soon, but for now they are busy putting on weight and learning how to feed.
Like the Weymouths, the idea of being parents to twins was a shock – albeit a welcome one – for Allen and Sharon Nicholls of Tumut.
The couple are now parents to Angus John William and Violet Helen Dorothy, who is 21 minutes older than her brother.
Mrs Nicholls was asleep when her waters broke, so the couple left their Tumut home and headed to the Wagga Rural Referral Hospital.
Born at about 34 weeks gestation, the twins will be in the hospital for a little while longer, while they grow, learn to feed and regulate their own body temperatures.
The twins both weighed about 1.64 kilograms, but Violet can claim to have more hair than her “younger” brother.
“Going into labour early was a bit of a shock,” Mrs Nicholls said.
Both Mrs Weymouth and Mrs Nicholls and their children have been able to remain in Wagga for their deliveries and subsequent recoveries, as the hospital is able to care for most babies born after 32 weeks gestation.