2026, declared the Year of Belarusian Women, has begun with pleasant news.
On January 1st at 00:01, a baby girl weighing 3 kg 700 g and measuring 53 cm was born at the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Maternity Hospital. She is the sixth child in the family. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the medical staff, the baby was born safely.
At the same time, a baby girl weighing 3 kg 575 g and measuring 53 cm was born at Vitebsk City Clinical Maternity Hospital No. 2. According to specialists, the birth was also urgent, and everything concluded well. The surprising coincidences do not end there – both families, who learned about the arrival of their daughters in the first minute of the new year, are from Sennensky District.
Gifts from the President were presented to the mothers and newborns on the eve of the Christmas holidays by Dmitry Demidov, Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, and Mikhail Vishnevetsky, Head of the Main Department for Healthcare of the Regional Executive Committee.
"It is becoming a wonderful tradition that the first citizens of our country appear in the Vitebsk region, in our maternity hospitals, and 2026 was no exception," noted Dmitry Demidov. "There is a special symbolism in the fact that in the Year of Belarusian Women, declared by the President just a few minutes earlier, girls were the first to be born. We are fulfilling an honourable mission by presenting gifts from the President of our country to the families, the parents of these children."
The head of the Vitebsk region's deputy corps expressed confidence that the children born at such a unique moment will have an interesting, bright, and fulfilling life. He wished the young parents not to forget the way back to the maternity hospital, emphasising that they are a good example for other families. After all, the greatest happiness in any family is the arrival of children.
"No material possessions can replace the love of children, the love for children, the care for them, because this is where our national spiritual values, our bonds, and our happiness lie," stressed Dmitry Demidov.
The entire large family of the Atrashkevich family came to meet mother Anzhelika and newborn Violetta from the regional maternity hospital: father Roman and five children – 16-year-old Zalina, 12-year-old Timur, 8-year-old Artur, 4-year-old Denis, and 2-year-old Karolina. Now the family has three boys and three girls. By the way, both parents come from large families, so children are cherished and planned for them.
Elizaveta Goncharova, mother of the "New Year's baby-26" born at Vitebsk City Maternity Hospital No. 2, shared that the name for her daughter had been chosen in advance – the baby was named Vladislava. This is the couple's first child, and at home, the little girl is eagerly awaited by her loving father, grandmothers and grandfathers, and numerous relatives.
– I pass the baton to all our women, – said Anzhelika Atroshkevich, touched by the solemn reception and congratulations conveyed on behalf of the Head of State. – I wish you to give birth to babies without fear of becoming large families. May God grant each of you the happiness of having a little child in your arms!