The Sundre Hospital and Care Centre’s New Year’s baby arrived so quickly that he had been delivered without complication before the doctor even had the chance to get there.
“It was quick and fast. It was almost surreal when he came so quick,” said mom Sarah Dixon, sitting with her husband Clarke during an interview at the cozy family home near Bergen, adding nursing staff did an excellent job assisting with the delivery.
Wyatt was born on Jan. 27 at 8:12 a.m. in the span of barely more than one hour, two weeks earlier than expected. He weighed about 2.75 kilograms, or a little more than six pounds and one ounce.
Back home the following afternoon, Dixon said all has since been going well.
“It’s wonderful,” she said when asked how welcoming Wyatt into the world felt.
The Dixons’ first child, Addison, was born on Nov. 11, 2014 in less than six hours, weighing about 3.37 kilograms, or seven pounds and seven ounces.
The couple originally hails from Ontario and relocated to the Bergen area from Black Diamond about seven years ago. They first moved to Alberta when Clarke was working for an outfitter that offered horseback excursions in the backcountry.
But after visiting some friends in the Sundre region, they fell in love with the scenery and serenity of life in the rural area. So Clarke explored job opportunities and successfully applied to work at West Fraser's Sundre Forest Products.
“We’re not going anywhere now,” he said.
“We like it here,” Dixon quickly added.
Vi Ellithorpe, president of the Sundre Hospital Auxiliary, presented the family with $1,005 worth of gift cards to three local businesses — IGA, Pharmasave, and the Sundre Community Drug Mart — that were purchased through the non-profit organization’s own funding. Providing gifts to the hospital's New Year's baby is a tradition that has been upheld since the facility opened 50 years ago, said Ellithorpe.
“It’s pretty amazing and generous,” said Dixon.
“We’ll be getting lots of diapers,” she said with a laugh when asked what they planned to spend the gift cards on, adding, “We’ll put that to good use.”
Jan. 27 was not the latest New Year’s baby Sundre has had, said Ellithorpe.
“We’ve had the odd one come in February,” she said.
“We weren’t expecting it — that’s for sure,” added Dixon.
