MEET Glasgow's first baby of the New Year and the new decade.

Proud parents Marie and Peter welcomed baby Catherine seven days early at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Marie, 35, who is a teacher at the Isobel Mair school in East Renfrewshire, went into labour yesterday afternoon and Catherine was born at 4.36am in the morning weighing 6lb 3oz.

Catherine is a third child for the couple, who have two sons, 5 and 2 and live in Clarkston.

The family were about to enjoy a steak pie dinner when Marie began having contractions.

Glasgow Times:

She said: "She wasn't due until January 7. I started having contractions in the afternoon and went into hospital in the evening and everything went from there. Everything went fine.

"It will be a nice story to tell her when she's older."

Catherine said she's planning to catch up on some sleep at home after getting out of hospital at midday and the family will enjoy that steak pie dinner later.

Glasgow Times:

Elsewhere in the country, there were even earlier arrivals.

A baby boy born at 12.03am is the earliest arrival announced so far, entering the world at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

The little boy, weighing 8lbs 5oz, is the first child for mother Emma Allan and father Cameron Cunningham.

READ MORE: First Minister says Glasgow to be ‘centre of world's attention’ in 2020

The parents, from Port Seton in East Lothian, said they were "delighted" with the new arrival whose name has not yet been revealed.

The first baby born on New Year's Day at St John's Hospital in Livingston was a boy called Russell who arrived at 2.09am weighing 8lbs 4oz.

Parents Laura and Kevin Galbraith, from Bathgate, West Lothian, also said they were delighted with their New Year gift.

Raigmore Hospital in Inverness welcomed two new arrivals early on New Year's Day.

The first was a boy born at 4.11am weighing 7lb 5oz.

Parents Alison and Allan Stewart, from Inverness, have still to announce a name for their son.

A short time later another boy was born at 4.30am weighing 7lb 11oz.

Sophie Jansen van Rensburg and partner Warren, from Nairn, have named the little boy Carter.