Awika Khenkhon with baby Matthew and young aunt Ella Reading, 3. Mum Lauyrah Levy with New Year baby Joel

PROUD mother Lauyrah Levy bade an emotional farewell to University College London Hospital today (Thursday) five days after giving birth to the borough’s first baby born in 2006.
Joel David Neilson appeared 20 minutes into the New Year – and was kept in this week for observation by the hospital’s paediatric doctors.
Ms Levy, 21, an accountancy student, said: “My expected date was January 1st – but I was really surprised that he came on the right day.
“I think he has got my eyes and his father’s nose. I’ve been here for five days and I am looking forward to going home. He looks so happy.”
Meanwhile, a family from Tufnell Park toasted the New Year in with the arrival of a new baby boy.
Awika Khenkhon, 35, spent four days in the Whittington Hospital but came out with little Matthew, who born in the early hours of new years day.
The baby was named Matthew Jason Khenkhon – names chosen by his new aunt and uncle, William and Kayreen Reading.
The pair, who live in Corinne Road in Tufnell Park and go to nearby Acland Burghley Secondary School and LaSwap sixth form, chose the names on the way back from the hospital in the car.
Mother Awika Khenkhon, who is from a village near Bangkok in Thailand, had already given the boy a nickname.
She said: “I will know him as “B-Mai,” which means New Year in Thai.”