TWO Halton families celebrated the arrival of babies on Christmas Day.

The bundles of joy were born at Warrington Hospital but it was a surprise gift for both couples as one arrived late and the other early.

Widnes couple Megan McGrory, 24, and Anthony Hollins, 40, had been expecting their second child on December 28.

Finley now joins his three-year-old brother Noah at their Appleton home.

Megan said: “We didn’t know he was coming three days early so we didn’t have any Christmas presents for him.

“He has had a few now.”

Widnes born Megan, a staff nurse at Warrington Hospital, met several familiar faces when she went into the maternity unit to give birth.

“I knew the anaesthetist and the scrub nurse,” said Megan, a former pupil at St Bede’s Catholic Primary School and Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College.

She brought her newborn son home from hospital on Wednesday with Anthony, a scaffolder who works for PDL Scaffolding.

“Finlay is lovely,” she added. “He is really good. He feeds and sleeps and doesn’t really cry. We are very lucky.

“Noah loves him and loves holding him.”

The family finally enjoyed a Christmas dinner on Thursday cooked by Megan’s mum who travelled up from Kent.

Runcorn couple Katie Livingstone, 36, and Andy Norton, 50, a quantity surveyor, were expecting their first child on December 22.

Abigail Rose came three days late.

Katie said: “She decided she wanted her Christmas presents. We had them wrapped under the tree.”

The couple, who live in Preston Brook, have already decided how to make sure Abigail can still enjoy her birthday every year on Christmas Day.

Katie, a gardening buyer for a retailer, said:”Lots of people have been had opinions. Some move the birthday to another day.

“But we have decided we are going to do half and half.

“We will give her Christmas presents in the morning and birthday presents in the afternoon so she still feels like it is her special day.”