ONE of Romford's newest arrivals – the last to be born on the King George Hospital labour ward – is the son of a porter who works at the hospital.
Donatas Daunys and Ieva Zemaityte from Romford gave birth to their first baby, Dovydas, on Monday, March 18 at 2.19am. Baby Dovydas weighed 8lb 2oz.
Their son is not only special to their parents but to the team of midwives who today say goodbye to the labour ward at the unit in Goodmayes.
Amy Lester, a midwife with 34 years and two months experience, retired last week after working at King George throughout its 20 years of operation, seeing both the first babies born (a set of triplets) as well as the last.
Amy said: "There have been lots of laughs and tears over the years; it has felt like a big family. I've loved coming to work every day and have been so proud to serve the local women and their babies."
From 9am on Tuesday, March 19, babies were born at Queen's Hospital or other local hospitals instead, as part of a wide ranging plan to improve maternity services across north east London.
There will be no redundancies in these plans, which will strengthen staffing at Queen's and the work in the community.
The new Queen's Birth Centre which opened in January, has already seen 100 new arrivals
The unit is equipped with large birthing pools for pain relief and is designed to promote natural birth.
While births will no longer take place at King George Hospital, women will continue to have access to a full range of antenatal care and maternity scans at the hospital.
One midwife said: "I can't wait to help women give birth in such beautiful surroundings. They have candles, music and birthing pools."
While the closure marks a change in maternity services at King George, there are no current changes to other services, such as A&E.