Parents Sally and Lewis were shocked to learn newborn Olivia was Mater Mothers’ Hospitals 10 000th baby for 2018.

“It’s been a rollercoaster journey and we’re overwhelmed with emotion,” mum Sally said after delivering Olivia on Thursday 20 December.

“Everyone’s been amazing and this is the best Christmas present ever!” she said.

As the first child for Sally and Lewis and first grandchild for both sides of the family, we have no doubt baby Olivia is making this year’s Christmas extra special for lots of people.

With an average of 28 babies born each day, it’s been a busy year for the 680 nurses and midwives employed across Mater Mothers’ Hospitals.

Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Mothers, Babies and Women’s Health Services Maree Reynolds, said every birth was a special occasion at Mater despite being Australia’s largest maternity service.

“We are always excited in the countdown to our 10 000th baby for the year,” she said. “We are very proud that so many Queensland families trust Mater Mothers as their maternity service and we feel privileged to share in many precious first moments.”

Counting by numbers

  • The busiest days of the year so far have been 9 August with 49 babies born and 18 January with 45 babies born.
  • The busiest month so far has been March with 941 babies born across Mater Mothers’ Hospital, Mater Mothers’ Private Brisbane and Mater Mothers’ Private Redland.
  • Mater has welcomed 5187 baby boys and 4786 baby girls so far in 2018.
  • There have been 370 multiple births made up of 178 sets of twins and 8 sets of triplets.
  • The top names for babies born at Mater Mothers’ Hospitals in 2018 were Charlotte, Olivia and Georgia for girls; and William, Oliver and Henry for boys, (compared to 2017—Charlotte, Olivia and Chloe for girls; and William, Oliver and Thomas for boys).
  • This year, there were more than 25 000 presentations to Mater Mothers’ Hospitals Pregnancy Assessment Centre. The purpose-built 24/7 Pregnancy Assessment Centre (PAC) opened in April 2017 to care for women with pregnancy complications from the very beginning of pregnancy through until six weeks after their baby has been born.
  • There has been an 8 per cent increase in private births in 2018.
  • More than 2000 seriously ill and premature babies from across south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales required the specialist life-saving care provided at Mater Mothers’ Hospitals’ Neonatal Critical Care Unit.
  • We have provided a total of 122 340 trays to Mater Mothers Hospitals in 2018, an average 10 195 meals per month to our maternity patients. Our plate waste has decreased from average 27% to 7% following the implementation of room service, and sits at an average 3% for Mater Mothers Hospitals.

With ABS reporting that 61 158 births were registered in Queensland in 2017, Ms Reynolds said that means one-in-six Queensland babies are born at Mater Mothers.

“Our reputation as a hospital that provides a very high level of care and expertise is something we are very proud of and this is evident by the large number of babies born at Mater each year.”

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