“I was having contractions while dancing to Craig David on New Year’s Eve”

A century ago we entered the Roaring Twenties.

That was what it felt like at St Thomas’ Hospital on New Year’s Day, too, as the maternity ward welcomed 17 new tots in a single day.

The decade’s first babies arrived with a blast of their lungs – and some relief for their parents.

Midwives at St Thomas’ were working tirelessly to deliver the first babies of the decade to proud parents. The 17 new arrivals – eight boys and nine girls – were born between 1.54am and 11.42pm.

First-time parents Yubing Zhu and Kenneth Ko welcomed their son, Finlay, pictured above, into the world at 10.42am, weighing 6lb 6oz.

Yubing said: “We were at a New Year’s Eve party and at 11pm I knew he was coming but I wanted to stay for the countdown. I was having contractions while Craig David was playing but I danced through them – it was nice to be distracted.”

The 31-year-old added: “It went as smooth as can be. We used the techniques we had learnt through hypnobirthing at home and got to the hospital at 8.30am. I went into the birthing pool and had paracetamol and gas and air, and two hours later he arrived.”

St Thomas’ Hospital sits yards away from the London Eye, which hosts the New Year’s Eve firework display – so there were blasts from all directions for the new parents.

Kenneth, 32, said: “I was so glad that Finlay waited until New Year’s Day to arrive because all the roads were blocked and there was lots of traffic the night before due to the fireworks. It’s been an amazing start to the year.”

It proved a busy end to the year for midwives at St Thomas’ Hospital with 20 babies born on New Year’s Eve. Around 6,500 babies are born at the trust each year.