{"id":295488,"date":"2026-01-15T12:23:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/?p=295488"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:23:49","slug":"little-bundles-of-joy-arrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/little-bundles-of-joy-arrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Little bundles of joy arrive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A total of 72 babies were born in public health facilities across the Free State on New Year&#8217;s Day 2026, with the Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom recording the highest number \u2013 at 11 births.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Free State babies were delivered in maternity wards across 22 public health facilities, with the first baby born at 00:20, and the last one at 23:55.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were 36 boys and 36 girls born. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The youngest mother is 16 years old, and the eldest is 45 years of age.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The district with the highest number of births is the Mangaung Metro, which recorded 27 births.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"295565\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/little-bundles-of-joy-arrive\/christmas-baby\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2027,2703\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Christmas baby\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby-768x1024.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"The Welkom MediClinic was blessedm with two Christmas babies, a boy and a girl, in 2025. Baby Rethakgetse Mahoa (photograph) was born at 21:34 on 25 December. She measured 47cm and weighed 2,565 kg. Her mother is Palesa Mahoa. Baby Morena Tleru (boy) was born at 07:56 on 25 December. He was 50cm and weighed 2,945 kg. His mother is Mantele Lucia Tleru.  There were no New Year's babies born at the Welkom MediClinic. Photo: Welkom MediClinic\" class=\"wp-image-295565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christmas-baby.jpg 2027w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Welkom MediClinic was blessedm with two Christmas babies, a boy and a girl, in 2025. Baby Rethakgetse Mahoa (photograph) was born at 21:34 on 25 December. She measured 47cm and weighed 2,565 kg. Her mother is Palesa Mahoa. Baby Morena Tleru (boy) was born at 07:56 on 25 December. He was 50cm and weighed 2,945 kg. His mother is Mantele Lucia Tleru. There were no New Year&#8217;s babies born at the Welkom MediClinic. Photo: Welkom MediClinic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> In addition, the Free State Department of Health recorded a total of 88 babies born at public health care facilities across the province on Christmas Day.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This amounts to 48 males and 40 females. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The maternity ward at the Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom recorded the highest number of Christmas deliveries, with 15 babies born between 00:23 and 23:03. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first Free State baby born on Christmas day, at 00:02, was a girl at the Elizabeth Ross District Hospital in Qwaqwa \u2013 and the last at 23:15, a boy, at the Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On New Year&#8217;s Day 2026, 72 babies were born in Free State public health facilities, with Bongani Regional Hospital having the most at 11 births. There were equal numbers of boys and girls, and the youngest mother was 16 years old. Christmas Day saw 88 births across the province, led by Bongani Hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":295489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"60","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"90","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"2","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"7970","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[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Motaung (27) from Odendaalsrus gave birth to her daughter at 00:20 on 1 January at the Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom. Baby Motaung weighed \r\n2,79kg at birth.","article_media_icon":"1","article_template":"news","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"1","byline":"Marti","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"Little bundles of joy arrive","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":["vinBabiesborn_P1"],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7970],"tags":[91],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-295488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-top"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Little bundles of joy arrive | Vista<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/little-bundles-of-joy-arrive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Little bundles of joy arrive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On New Year&#039;s Day 2026, 72 babies were born in Free State public health facilities, with Bongani Regional Hospital having the most at 11 births. There were equal numbers of boys and girls, and the youngest mother was 16 years old. 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