Special deliveries for Mother's Day

Today, amid cards, balloons and flowers, Sue McGee is celebrating Mother's Day with an 8-pound newborn.

Throughout South Florida, scores of moms, both new and veterans, are spending Mother's Day rejoicing and recuperating from childbirth.

Maybe that is why Mother's Day comes in May: It's the start of the baby season.

Between now and fall, more babies will be delivered than any other time of the year. Particular gangbuster months: from June until September.

``The numbers tend to start dropping off in January and begin increasing in May,'' said Baptist Hospital of Miami spokeswoman Anne Streeter.

May has been a busy month so far at Baptist Hospital. Dozens of babies were delivered this weekend, including baby McGee, who arrived at 11 p.m. Friday after surprising mom with 16 hours of labor.

``It was so long,'' said Sue McGee, now mother to three daughters. ``I thought this one was going to be no problem. This one turned out to be the longest.''

Her husband, a Dade prosecutor, anxiously waited through the long hours. He missed his second daughter's birth -- the doctor told him it was OK to leave and relax a bit -- and Christie, now 7 1/2 years old, surprised everyone by arriving within four hours.

Today, his wife expects to celebrate Mother's Day at home. Like many new mothers, she will be out of the hospital after only a day of rest in the hospital.

Dahlia Labossiere was preparing Saturday to leave with day-old Alex after only a 25-hour stay. She was putting a new outfit on the dozing 7-pound, 12-ounce baby, born 12:38 p.m. Friday.

He was a Mother's Day surprise: Alex was not expected for two more weeks.

``I went for a long walk,'' Labossiere said. ``I think that's what did it.''

Alex was a special gift in another way: Labossiere said he looks more like her than her husband, Patrick.

Baby Alex already has an entourage: brothers Anthony, 8, and Allin, 5, students at Howard Drive Elementary.

Anthony, being the oldest, has delegated responsibilities: ``I'm going to feed him and my brother is going to change him.''

While many new moms such as Labossiere will be celebrating at home, Adriana Duque will still be at Baptist today after a tough 14-hour birth of her first child, Alexandra, which resulted in an emergency Caesarean section.

``We had lots of scares,'' Duque said.

Still, she was smiling Saturday: She had a healthy seven-pounder.

And she had a roomful of well-wishers. It was an impromptu, four-generation reunion: from Alexandra's great-grandmother Josefina Calvo, 84, to grandmothers Gloria Pace and Vivian Calvo to cousin Nicolas, just 6 months old.

The guests filled the hospital room with balloons, flowers and baby presents. And they cooed over the sleeping baby, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets.

``She looks like a wet burrito,'' grandmother Vivia Calvo joked.

May is turning out to be a special month for Alexandra's parents. In addition to Alexandra's birthday, they celebrate their wedding anniversary in May.

Today, Diego Duque is planning a special celebration for his wife on her first Mother's Day, perhaps dinner by candlelight. It may be in a hospital room, but she said, ``It will be special.''