Identical twin brothers Callum and Connor (above) kicked off our festive deliveries, being born just before 3am on Christmas Eve morning.

The twins are extra special to their parents Katie Pegg, 33, and Chris Smith, 35, as neither have twins in their families, so they were completely unexpected.

Katie, of Rainham, said:

When we found out we were having twins at the 12-week scan it was a massive shock. We decided then to find out the sex when we could so we could be as prepared as possible.

The boys were due on 19 January, but twins are born at around 36 weeks so we knew I’d be having them early, but we expected to have them home for Christmas! I went in to be induced the weekend before (21 December) thinking we’d be home in a few days, but they took their sweet time. They must have decided they wanted to be almost Christmas babies and waited until the day before.

One of Katie’s big worries as she was in labour just before midnight on Christmas Eve was that she might end up having one twin on December 23 and one on December 24 – luckily both boys waited to arrive on the same day.

The twins are the first babies for Katie and Chris, while she is also mum to two older children.

Katie, a practice development nurse in our A&E at Queen’s Hospital, added:

It’s really precious to have the twins right on top of Christmas, the festive magic just makes it feel that bit more special. It made it a lot more exciting for my other two children too as Father Christmas brought them two baby brothers!

We came home on 27 December and opened presents. We haven’t had a Christmas dinner this year. Maybe in the new year we’ll have a delayed celebration and people can start coming to see them.

Both boys weighed around 6lb.

Baby Ruhanshi (above) may have been due on Christmas Eve, but she instead became one of our first Christmas Day babies of 2024, born at 12.45am.

She’s the first baby for parents Charu Kamboj, 28, and Himanshu Himanshu, 23, making her Christmas Day arrival very special for them.

Himanshu, of Collier Row, said:

We came in on 23 December for my wife to be induced, and then she needed a c-section.

It was very exciting when the baby was coming as she’s our first. We don’t celebrate Christmas but her coming on Christmas Day was very lucky for us and our family is very happy. We’re home now and our family and friends were there to welcome us. My wife is well and happy to be home. The baby is very calm and doesn’t cry too much, she feeds and sleeps, feeds and sleeps.

The family came home with baby Ruhanshi, who weighed just over 8lb, on Sunday 29 December.

She was one of 13 babies born on Christmas Day at Queen’s Hospital.