Newborn baby and mother.
Newborn baby and mother.Flash 90

The birthing center at Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center faced the ultimate test Sunday and Monday, as a record 58 births stretched resources to the limit.

The average daily birth rate at the hospital is 35 – the number of beds in the medical center's sparkling new Saban Maternity Center.

But Soroka Maternity Director Professor Moshe Mazor explained that over the past 24 hours, a record 58 babies were born at the center.

“The birth rate has been rising here steadily since the opening of the Saban Maternity Ward,” Mazor said.

“Birth rates peak during summer and autumn,” he explained. “We expect an additional increase over the coming months.”

Soroka is located in the heart of the Negev region, which comprises some 60 percent of Israel's land mass.