“Like every other migrant who comes to Australia, our goal was to settle and become a citizen of the country someday," says Mayank Patel.
"But we never imagined that July 15th, 2020, would be the date that will now forever hold a special place in our hearts,” adds his wife, Yesha.
Yesha gave birth to their first child just hours after becoming Australian citizens in a virtual ceremony.
The day of double joy
“We got an invitation for our citizenship ceremony for July 15th, that was two days after the originally planned date for my delivery on July 13th, she said.
The couple accepted the invitation to the ceremony, assuming that the child would have been born by then.
Yesha and Mayank Patel with their son Mishaay Source: Mayank Patel
“We had to postpone the delivery to Tuesday 14th July 2020 as there was some emergency at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne where I was going to give birth, and my obstetrician, Dr Sujata Hemrajani, asked me to rest up for a day.
“On the morning of the 14th, I was to be induced to bring on labour, but my water broke, and I went into labour myself, followed by a natural birth”.
The citizenship ceremony was planned for 9.20 am on the 15th July 2020, I, however, was in labour and took the oath from my hospital bed!
The couple had permission from the doctors to attend the ceremony during labour and before becoming proud parents.
Source: Mayank Patel
Took an oath from the labour room
When Mayank Patel joined the virtual ceremony link on the laptop, no one from the Immigration Department turned up to conduct the ceremony at the agreed time, due to a technical glitch.
I emailed the Immigration Department straight away to ask if the ceremony could take place as soon as possible as we were running out of time.
When the case officer found out about this couple’s particular situation, he happily agreed and completed the process quickly.
“With the help from our doctor, midwives Claire Mcatee and Azure Ford at St Vincent’s Private Hospital, we completed the ceremony at 11.45 am before giving birth to our lovely son, Mishaay a few hours later, at 2.43 pm.”
“Everyone there at the hospital was so excited and congratulated us!”, says Yesha.
“The case officer from the Immigration Department was also surprised about our circumstances during the ceremony," Mayank recalled.
Source: Memento Photography
"He told us he has facilitated many Australian citizenship ceremonies in his career, but this was the first time he saw someone taking an oath from the labour room in a hospital."
'We are now proud Australians'
Yesha and Mayank Patel migrated to Australia in August 2015 on a Skilled Migrant Visa and landed in Adelaide, South Australia. They fulfilled the legal requirement of living in South Australia for two years before becoming eligible for Australian citizenship and moving to Melbourne.
Becoming an Australian citizen is always a proud moment for any migrant and this young couple say they will cherish this date throughout their lives as their citizenship certificates also have the date of their son’s birthday on it.
“I was suffering from labour pain and took an oath from my bed at the same time, so it was a unique feeling for me," says Yesha.
“Our parents back in India were eagerly waiting to hear the news about the birth of our baby. We surprised them, of course, by sharing the news of our citizenship as well."
'We will have a grand celebration'
“Due to the coronavirus lockdown in Melbourne, we could not celebrate our Australian citizenship milestone, nor could we celebrate the arrival of our baby boy. Therefore, we are planning to throw a grand party and invite our parents over to Australia once the nation recovers from the coronavirus pandemic,” they promised.
