Starting 2024 with a bang

Mum Chloe with her 19-days-old son, who was the first to be born at Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s at Sunshine Hospital for 2024 (Damjan Janevski). 383416_01

As the sky lit up with a sea of colours raining down from Melbourne’s New Year fireworks, first time parents Chloe and Josh Grundy watched the celebrations from their room in Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s at Sunshine Hospital.

Chloe and Josh had picked the name for their newest family edition and they already knew the gender, but baby Wyatt was hesitant to be born in 2023.

Arriving four days late, Chloe said she went into hospital on December 28 to be induced as Wyatt was on the bigger spectrum.

“It was funny because I always said, I wouldn’t mind having a 2024 baby and then it happened,” Chloe laughed.

“We watched the fireworks from the bedroom on New Years Eve and then they came in to tell us we had to have the c-section because he wasn’t budging.

“We [had] thought, oh this year (2023) we’ll scrape in but he didn’t want to come out.”

Following a successful c-section, Wyatt was born in the early hours of New Year’s Day morning, a moment which Chloe describes as ‘perfect’.

“It was very surprising because he [moved] his head up a little bit and it was ah, just the perfect moment.

“He’s very settled now, going to sleep and feeding a lot.”

Chloe said she plans to take about half the year off before returning to work, and is looking forward to a year without ongoing morning sickness.

“On the 31st [of December] I was throwing up as well. [I’m looking forward to] no back pain, no morning sickness, no heartburn, [I’m] happy it’s all gone away.”

Zoe Moffatt