Festive bundles of bliss: Very special delivery for this year’s Hobart Christmas babes

The one thing these couples weren’t expecting on Monday was a baby under the tree. But babies Bella Francesca and Koby couldn’t have given their parents a better Christmas gift.

Christmas Day baby arrival Bella Francesca Munoz, born at Hobart's Calvary Hospital on December 25, 2023. Picture: Calvary Hospital

Come December 25 next year, South Hobart couple Camila Castro and Julian Munoz won’t be putting up any Christmas trees or singing carols.

Instead, they’ll be placing a singular candle in the centre of a cake to celebrate the first birthday of their bona fide Christmas babe, Bella Francesca.

Mr Munoz said the couple had been expecting their first baby – who they were certain was going to be a boy – on December 22.

But instead, his wife went into labour late on Christmas Eve.

“We arrived at the Calvary at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Mr Munoz said.

“We received this beautiful lady at 11 o’clock on Christmas Day.”

Bella Francesca was the only baby born at the Lenah Valley hospital this Christmas – and she came as a surprise to her parents, not only for the date of her arrival.

“We were expecting a boy. This was completely a surprise,” Mr Munoz said.

“We have neutral clothes and pillows and blankets, but with my wife, our feeling was this was a boy.

“We selected a name for a boy – Francesco.”

When their baby turned out to be a girl, it was easy enough to feminise her name, but the pair – who hail from Colombia – wanted to add a “personal touch”.

“We wanted an extra name so we selected Bella, which means beautiful,” Mr Munoz said.

He said the family was Christian, but came from a church that didn’t celebrate Christmas – which meant Bella Francesca would be able to keep December 25 all to herself.

“For us it’s a nice thing, because every year on the 25th is our daughter’s birthday,” Mr Munoz said.

Baby Koby Page was born at the Royal Hobart Hospital on Christmas Day, 2023. He's pictured here with mum Kate, dad Jon, and big sisters Montana, six, and Mia, three. Picture: Supplied

Meanwhile on Monday, Kate and Jon Page welcomed their own bundle of Christmas joy with the arrival of Koby at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

“He was meant to come New Year’s Day, so he’s a week early,” Mrs Page said.

“About 12pm on Christmas, I started getting niggly pains. At 2 o’clock, my waters all of a sudden broke and I was in full labour. Then at 5 o’clock he was here.”

Baby Koby is the third child for the Lonnavale family, who plan to celebrate his birthday on a different day each year, to “make it a bit more special for him”.

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Originally published as Festive bundles of bliss: Very special delivery for this year’s Hobart Christmas babes