The Baby Books at Halifax Health is tradition that few people know about.
It’s a New Year, and while in reality New Year’s Day is just another day, there’s something about 2021 that feels hopeful. Every New Year is met with a sense of optimism that this could be a year of greatness but even more so this year. Here at Halifax Health, New Year’s Day is just another day for some. The sick, the emergencies and the unexpected don’t take the holidays off. And while most patients dread the thought of being in the hospital during the holidays, Labor and Delivery is a different story. Here, moms and dads to-be await in anxious anticipation for the arrival of their newest family member, and doctors and nurses look forward to seeing who will be the Halifax Health – New Year Baby. It’s a title that only 92 babies have had since Halifax Health opened its doors in 1928.
What most people don’t know is that for the past 92 years every baby who has been born at Halifax Health has been hand written into our Halifax Health baby books. The oldest of the books are frayed and weathered, but they’re all full of the hand written names, dates, times and weight of every single baby born here. As you flip through pages and pages of names you can’t help but wonder about their stories. What life was like? Where they are now? Do they have children or grandchildren that are in some of these books? It’s history that’s been documented, not out of obligation, but out of tradition. They’re more than books full of names, they’re full of history for this community. Contained in these books are the names of family members, neighbors, and friends.
This year, baby David was born at 3:36AM, becoming the 2021 Halifax Health – New Year Baby, and the first name to kick off the 2021 baby book. His page will fill up fast and so will the next one, and then the next, and when the year is over he’ll be the first of over 1,500 names. David will probably never know that here in the walls of Halifax Health, there’s a book with his name in it, hand written just like all the babies before and after him. For one year, he led the way for all the other babies born at Halifax Health.
Written by Ashley Wohlford, February 2, 2021
Ashley Wohlford is a Marketing Coordinator at Halifax Health, who works on the Center for Women and Infant Health Service Line. Ashley is a mom to two girls, both who were born at Halifax Health (and are in the Halifax Health Baby Books.)
