The first baby born at the Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Cần Thơ Province in the Year of the Rat. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — At the stroke of midnight as the Year of the Rat began, the first babies of 2020 were born across Việt Nam.

At the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Hà Nội, four new arrivals took their first breaths in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A baby boy weighing 3.5kg was named Tuệ Minh, which means intelligence, with his parents hoping he will be possess intelligence throughout his life.

Đàm Thị H, a mother of a 3.2kg baby girl born at 12.15am, said she guessed the birth would occur on the first days of the new year but did not think it would happen in the first minutes of 2020.

“Enjoying the new year at the hospital will be an unforgettable and happy memory to myself and my husband,” she told Vietnam News Agency.

Director of the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology Trần Danh Cường presented gifts to the families, saying that the births mark the reproduction with the wish of a fulfilled year.

At the general hospital of northern Phú Thọ Province, mother Lê Khánh Linh welcomed her healthy baby girl weighing 3.3kg just after midnight.

At the Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Mekong Delta province of Cần Thơ, two babies, one boy and one girl were born in stable conditions on the New Year’s Eve after caesarean sections were carried out.

Doctors and nurses of the Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Cần Thơ visit the mother who gave birth on New Year's Eve.

“It was such a great happiness for the doctors and nurses to welcome the first babies of the year. In 2020, the hospital will apply new techniques to help women and babies,” Nguyễn Hữu Dự, the hospital director said. — VNS