Babies share special birthday with the NHS

More than 7,500 babies are born at Oxford University Hospitals every year - but those born on Thursday 5 July are unaware they share a very special birthday with the 70th birthday of the NHS.

While staff and patients celebrated with cake, tea and strawberries, exhausted mothers were preparing for, enduring and recovering from the joys and pains of labour.

Following the 'whirlwind' of emotions from giving birth, parents in the John Radcliffe Hospital's delivery and observation wards in Oxford were keen to pay special thanks to NHS staff on their - and the NHS's - special day.

Witney couple Celia Stevens, 33, and Rich Massingham, 36, welcomed their as-yet unnamed baby boy into the world at 10.35am, weighing 6lb 12oz.

The baby boy is the first child they have had together and Celia, a social worker, was grateful to staff who supported her through labour.

"The hospital staff were amazing - the JR is fantastic," she said.

Partner Rich, who works in property, added: "It's never going to be easy. It was stressful but the staff were incredible - think of all the people they have helped."

Shortly afterwards, and another couple were beaming with pride after the birth of their second child.

Pink and tiny, the boy, also unnamed, was born at 11.28am at 6lb 12oz to delighted parents Nicky Deacon, 33, and Luke Spurway, 39 (pictured here after the birth).

The couple, from Souldern, near Bicester, said giving birth had been a 'whirlwind' but were full of praise for the NHS midwives and Maternity Unit.

They said: "The staff were brilliant. They were so friendly from first thing this morning. We have been looked after so well."

Two-year-old Millie, the couple's first child, was born at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, also part of the Trust, and Nicky, trying to cool herself down with fan following a 'quick and easy' labour, was desperate to take the newest addition to the family home to be introduced to the rest of her family.

The Women's Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals, is a regional referral unit for women with high-risk pregnancies, and its Neonatal Unit provides special care for babies in Oxfordshire and across the Thames Valley and beyond.