CHRISTMAS Day was an extra-special day for several families as maternity staff at York Hospital were kept busy delivering babies.

Among five born before noon was the tiny daughter of Sonia and Ambrose Gruenfeld.

Her mother is already planning her first day at school – so the children she teaches at Slingsby Primary School can see her.

“They are really excited about her,” said Mrs Gruenfeld. “I have been told I must bring her in.”

The 33-year-old first-time mother was hoping to take her as yet unnamed baby home to Osbaldkirk near Helmsley within hours of her birth at 2.15am, weighing 7lbs and 12oz.

“It feels indescribable,” she said of motherhood. “You can’t describe that overwhelming love you have for your child, just very, very happy!

Her daughter was not expected until January 4, but the new mother sensed she would be early and she and the new father finished their festive preparations early.

Before noon on Christmas Eve, they were in York Hospital as her prediction proved right. Now mother and baby are preparing to show a class of four to six year olds the happy end of the pregnancy they have followed keenly.

Sonia and her baby were greeted by the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Julie Gunnell, who visited the hospital yesterday.

Guided by Alan Rose, the chairman of the trust that runs the hospital, and the on-duty directorate manager Kim Hinton, they met staff and visited the children’s ward where they met a two-year-old girl recovering from surgery and other young children, the maternity ward to see the Christmas babies and their mothers, and the joint elderly and psychiatric assessment ward and also inspected the new garden at the cancer care centre.

Coun Gunnell said she wanted to show the dedicated staff that their hard work was appreciated by the community as a whole.

She particularly asked to see the elderly people’s ward because the patients there have both physical and mental health issues.