Record number of babies born at the Winchester, Ont. hospital in 2021
An eastern Ontario hospital is celebrating after a record-setting 2021 that saw 796 babies delivered in the maternity ward.
Dallas Fawcett was the first to arrive around 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2021. Little did anyone know she would be the start of something unique.
"She came in with a bang and I don't think we would have had it any other way," said Dallas' mother, Shelby Fraser-Clouthier from Morrisburg, Ont.
The baby boom included six sets of twins, according to Winchester Memorial District Hospital (WDMH).
"To have the record number of babies born here than in any year before, it's very exciting," WDMH CEO Cholly Boland said. "We had our suspicions! It's impossible to predict, no one has a crystal ball around here."
Boland said hospital staff started to get an idea of what was happening last summer.
"That's our peak time, so we know if the summer is really busy that may lend itself to continuing into the end of the year," he said.
Elizabeth Peters was born in July 2021 at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital. (Photo courtesy: Heather Peters)
Former Winchester resident Heather Peters welcomed her daughter Elizabeth at WDMH in July.
"When my time came, they kept pushing me back because they had so many women in labour that day," Peters said. "They ended up pushing me back by about two days and then I ended up going in labour naturally."
Nurses told her it had been a busy few weeks.
"They were saying like, 'A lot of babies being born, it seems to be the theme this year', was that everybody decided that they were going to have a baby," Peters said with a laugh.
While the record seems like a lot for a town of about 2,500 people, surprisingly it's not far off the hospital's yearly average.
"Usually it's between 650-700, 720 deliveries every year," Boland said, noting the hospital's reputation attracts people from farther away.
"On average, our patients come from about an hour's radius of Winchester, so that's southern part of Ottawa, Leeds Grenville, Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, that area," he said.
"Sometimes, two hours away, which as a dad I think that is a bit distant, to cause a dad maybe some nerves, but that's the result of people's experience here and we're very proud of it," Boland said.
Boland also noted while the record number of babies averages out to more than two births a day, it doesn't actually happen like that.
"It's not predictable, we could go a couple days with no births and a couple days with eight or nine per day," Boland said. "I think our record in 24 hours is somewhere around 10 or 12.
Shelby Fraser-Clouthier with her daughter Dallas, who was born at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital on Jan. 1, 2021. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)
Both Peters and Fraser-Clouthier said the level of care, even though the hospital was busy, was fantastic.
"Winchester was the best hospital. They were kind, caring, attentive and I had an incredible team with my midwives," said Fraser-Clouthier.
"It was great. The nurses were wonderful, the doctors were wonderful, and I think I was only there about six or seven hours before Lizzy was born," added Peters. "The nurses basically said it's been busy. The atmosphere was very go, go, go, kind of non-stop."
As for why the record might have been broken in 2021, everyone has their suspicions.
"She's my little COVID baby, in a sense that we were home, I was working from home, like there was not much to do," laughed Peters.
"At the time (the pandemic) was going to keep going on, like there was no end in sight, and it just seems like a perfect opportunity to just be home and you know, you're going to be home anyways. With a baby so why not take the opportunity to do it," she added. "I think that definitely the pandemic kind of pushed people to making the decision."
"People definitely found something to do during quarantine," said Fraser-Clouthier. "I definitely think being home was a big part of it and having a chance to really calm down and step back from the chaos and busyness of life."
"People were at home and that's maybe the reason," smiled Boland. "No one has confirmed with that."
"It's such a rewarding experience in here to be part of giving life, helping someone come into the world," Boland added. "When we've done something that we haven't done before, it's that much better."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
A fight to protect the dignity of Michelangelo's David raises questions about freedom of expression
Michelangelo's David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue's religious and political significance is being diminished.
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
What new auto insurance reforms will mean for Ontarians, if they get introduced
Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices.