Gloomy skies marked the morning of National Day, but for the family of Mr Eddy Kurniawan, it could not have been brighter.
At exactly midnight yesterday, his first child was born, becoming one of two Singaporean babies reported by two hospitals here to have been naturally born at that precise moment, making them the first National Day babies of 2017.
The arrival of baby boy Emir Rayhan - whose name means "prince" and "flower in heaven" - at Raffles Hospital was a surprise, as he was born 12 days earlier than expected.
But it did not faze Mr Kurniawan, 28, an airport emergency services officer. He said of his wife, Housing Board administrative executive Rabitah Razali, also aged 28: "I whispered words of encouragement to her and said prayers. I also extended my arm to her and she gripped it very hard."
She endured an 18-hour labour to deliver 50cm-tall Emir, who tipped the scales at 3.3kg.
Mr Kurniawan cut the umbilical cord himself, at the encouragement of the doctor.
When it was all over, Madam Rabitah burst into tears, when the extreme pain she had endured for hours suddenly "dropped to zero".
"I feel quite honoured because this is a special day and we can celebrate with the whole nation," she said.
Madam Rabitah quipped that she had even requested visiting family and friends to observe a dress code of red and white.
Someone also sent her a text message, joking that since Emir was born on National Day, he should be named Sang Nila Utama, after a prince who is said to have founded pre-colonial Singapore.
Over at Mount Alvernia Hospital, the final minutes of Aug 8 were tense - former Singapore Airlines stewardess Soh Bei En, 29, was screaming the place down.
Her first child, Matheus Tan Pin Xu, was six days overdue and a little oversized, at nearly 4kg.
And when he finally popped out, he cried almost as loudly as she did.
But he soon calmed down when his father, Mr Tan Shi Chang, 34, a human resources executive, took him to one side and soothed him by saying "Papa is here".
Ms Soh, who is proficient in Chinese, said she and Mr Tan had started thinking about possible Chinese names for the baby as soon as she became pregnant.
They experimented with different character combinations, finally settling on the Chinese character "pin", which stands for "personality", and "xu", which means "bright and cheerful".
Their first child has certainly started life on a bright and cheerful note, but celebrations will come a bit later.As a loving and responsible husband, Mr Tan said of his wife: "She needs to rest."
