FULL CIRCLE

THE STAR

Dr Ryan OMalley  himself a New Years baby at the same hospital  and Stella Mloyi after he delivered her son Luthando, who was the first baby to be born in the new year at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. Picture: Itumeleng English

KRISTEN VAN SCHIE

kristen.vanschie@inl.co.za

Ryan O’Malley arrived six weeks early.

His parents were on holiday in Joburg when his mother went into labour. They were due to fly back to Cape Town that night, but they never made that flight. At 2.45am, O’Malley became the first baby born at the then Johannesburg General Hospital in 1987.

Fast-forward 26 years and O’Malley was a ball of weary excitement pacing the labour ward of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

“Dr O’Malley”, read the embroidered letters on his blue scrubs.

He had just finished his two-year internship the day before, delivering babies late into the night in his own place of birth. He clocked off, caught a few hours’ sleep and came right back.

“It’s like I’m fulfilling some sort of weird cycle,” he smiled. “I’m gonna catch me a New Year’s baby of my own.”

Midnight struck. The hospital exploded as whooping security guards wished each other compliments and nurses set off sparklers in the parking lot.

They pulled O’Malley from the labour ward with a shrill chorus of “Happy Birthday” ringing through the wide corridors.

Inside the ward, Stella Mloyi wasn’t quite in labour. The nurses had expected her baby at midnight, but he wasn’t ready to make his debut just yet. A cot stood ready, covered in colourful tinsel.

“Soon,” the matron said. “Soon.”

The din dropped. The slow, steady harmonies of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika rose and fell from the nursing choir outside. A gentle hum, busy voices, silence. It was just before 1am.

And then a cry – high-pitched and pleading, again and again.

The matron came out and announced: “We have a baby.”

A boy, 56cm long, weighing 3.49kg, a full head of hair and blaring out loud, healthy lungfuls as he was wrapped in a green towel.

“It happened so fast,” said O’Malley, cheeks flushed and eyes shining.

He handed over the baby to Mloyi. It soon settled.

Sister Rose Machusi recorded the baby’s details. She had started in this ward exactly a year previously. This baby was her first for the year. She was expecting another before 2am.

“Bringing somebody into the world is so incredible,” she said.

Mloyi lay on her side. This was her second child, but her body was still shaking. The baby lay against her quietly, his eyes squeezed shut, his tiny lips opening and closing.

“I feel so happy,” she breathed.

“Do you have a name for him already?”

“Luthando,” she said. “It means ‘love’.”