‘Hello Singapore’ host Kenneth Kong welcomes SG50 baby boy

Photos: Kenneth Kong

Another local entertainment figure has welcomed an SG50 baby into the world.

This time, it is Channel 8’s Hello Singapore host Kenneth Kong (Jian Wen), whose first child, son Jiang Xu Yang, was delivered via caesarean section at Mount Alvernia Hospital at 6:28pm last night (September 7). The baby weighs a healthy 3.85kg, and both mother and son are doing well.

In a phone interview with Toggle, Kenneth revealed that his wife’s due date was supposed to be September 6, but little Xu Yang refused to come out of his mother’s tummy even after a 40-week pregnancy. The couple then went for a check-up at the hospital the day before yesterday, and their doctor offered to induce labour as the child might get too big if they waited any longer.

However, the birth was not without a hefty dose of “drama”, as Kenneth himself put it. “At one point, the baby’s heart rate dropped from 150 to 70, which is too low. His heartbeat eventually stabilised, but because the whole process was taking too long, our doctor recommended a C-section, just to be safe,” he explained.

Sadly for Kenneth, these circumstances prevented him from being around at the actual moment of birth. “I wanted to accompany my wife into the delivery room and personally cut the umbilical cord, but I did not expect that to happen!”

When asked how he felt when he laid eyes on his child for the first time, Kenneth reported that it was an inconceivable moment. “When the nurse brought him out and he looked at me, my fatherly side came pouring out all at once,” he gushed, with the excitement clear in his voice. The proud papa added that because the precious moment happened so quickly, he did not have time to cry tears of joy.

As this is their firstborn and he came into this world in the month of September, Kenneth and his wife decided to name their son Xu Yang, which signifies a new beginning and a new journey.

Although he took two weeks’ leave, Kenneth revealed that he will still keep tabs on the ongoing GE2015 happenings and may need to be ready to report back to work, if necessary. “But at least my baby did not choose to come out on nomination day or polling day, or we’d have been even busier!” he said with a laugh.

The birth of Kenneth’s son marks the eighth celebrity baby arrival in Singapore this year. Locally based Malaysian actor Zen Chong's wife gave birth to their first child, daughter Aryssa, on April 6; veteran actor Chen Tian Wen became a dad to ‘Xiao Un’ on June 12; YES 933 DJ Lin Pei Fen had son Luke on July 17; Joanne and Qi Yuwu welcomed ‘baby Qi’ on August 7; Taiwanese star Vivian Hsu, who is married to a Singapore-based businessman, finally held her son in her arms on August 13 after a difficult pregnancy; Carole Lin successfully bore her first daughter Brooklyn at the age of 42 last month; and Taiwanese model—actress Sonia Sui had her baby boy Max here just last week. Singapore-born Leon Jay Williams also entered fatherhood on January 26 when his little girl Harper Ann was born in Taiwan.