(Carlson Elric Hay was the first baby born at Ste.Anne Hospital in 2014)

Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach welcomed 482 babies into the world in 2014. That is an increase of 56 from 2013.

Jan Gunness, Director of Health Services for Bethesda Regional Health Centre says the opposite trend happened in Ste.Anne last year. 2014 saw the arrival of 114 babies, compared to 124 the previous year.

"But part of that was around bed closures and renovations and finishing up the surgical suite," notes Gunness. "I expect that (Ste.Anne) will increase in this next year."

Gunness says she attributes the overall increase to two factors. First of all, she says it has mostly to do with population growth.

"We're one of the fastest growing areas of the province," says Gunness. "That happens when there's more babies born. More population, more potential for babies to be born."

She says the other thing that has happened is that the number has increased in terms of physicians looking after obstetrical gynecological patients. Gunness says they now have eight such physicians compared to four a year ago, resulting in more patients being seen at Bethesda and Ste.Anne.

It should be noted, these numbers do not reflect the total number of babies born to mothers in the southeast. Gunness says not only are there home births but also, some women choose to rather give birth at hospitals in Winnipeg.

"Some of it is related to the pregnancy and needing to have a different approach to their pregnancy because of risks for mom and babe than what we can manage in the rural hospital," notes Gunness. "Some moms just choose to doctor in Winnipeg. But we'd like to have them come to Bethesda, come to Ste.Anne."

The number of births for 2014 by local women in Winnipeg hospitals is not available.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba government has released the list of most popular names for girls and boys born in 2014. The top three girl's names were Olivia, Emma and Sophia. Rounding out the top ten were Emily, Ava ,Chloe, Avery, Abigail, Isabella and Madison. The top ten boy's names in order are Liam, Noah, Logan, Ethan, Mason, Lucas, James, Jacob, Jackson and Hunter.