NEW Year’s Day for most might involve post-party clean-ups or nursing a hangover but for one Winchester couple it was about welcoming their first child into the world.

Little Lily was born at 8.25am weighing 8lbs 13 oz, to Michele and Steen Ingerslev, the couple’s first.

Michele, 34, a learning and development partner, said she and her husband, a thirty-seven-year-old business development manager, said they’d not yet completed Lily’s nursery due to her early arrival but said they couldn’t wait to welcome her to her new home at Wychwood Place in Winchester.

“She was a nice planned surprise!” Michele said. “Her due date was tomorrow but I went into labour on Monday. I’ve been awake ever since so I’m pretty tired!

“She’s a very contented baby and it’s lovely just being here getting to know her.”

Steen said: “She’s such a happy little thing.”

Lily was the last of three babies to be born in Winchester on New Year’s Day.

First up was baby Findlay, born to Natalie and Matthew Keat, who was born at 1.55am weighing a mighty 10lbs 10oz.

The couple, from Oakdene in Alton, had to race against the clock when Natalie’s waters broke unexpectedly.

Natalie, a thirty-five-year-old teacher in Basingstoke, said: “I was in labour for three and a half hours, pretty much from the word go. It just so happened we got here in the nick of time otherwise he might have been born in the car!

“We were driving through Winchester as the fireworks were going off and my husband, 41, pointed them out to try and distract me. I really couldn’t have cared any less!”

The beautiful baby boy is Natalie and Matthew’s second child, giving their three-year-old daughter Madison a new baby brother.

Next to be born was baby Amelie, Ruth and Steve Winter’s second baby, who weighed just 5lbs 3oz when she was born at 7.03am.

Ruth, an admin assistant for Winchester architecture firm, said she was the perfect companion for her two-and-a-half-year-old son Freddie and her family who live on Botley Road in Romsey.

Ruth, 38, said she was tired but looking forward to showing her newborn off with her husband, 39.

“My first was 5lbs 13oz so she was always going to be little. She’s been fed and she was a little quieter this morning than she is now but she’s just perfect.

“She was meant to be due on January 20 but instead she came through at 7.03 this morning!”