The Almonte Hospital's mystery March baby boom
This spring has been full of life in Almonte, as the local hospital has seen its biggest baby boom in recent memory.
Dr. Melanie Fortune, the Almonte General Hospital's lead of family medicine obstetrics says they averaged more than one birth per day.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
"We had about 33 babies born in March, which is at least 50 per cent more than what I believe we saw in the year prior," said Fortune.
"So the thing about babies is they don't arrive on schedule and they don't arrive evenly distributed," added Mary Wilson Trider, the hospital's president and CEO. "So we had days that were really crazy because we had five or six."
Dr. Fortune says the new life is great for the community.
"We slept less, we probably ate less, and saw our own families less. But for us it's the reason we do this job," she said.
Fortune reckons the hospital delivered more girls than boys in March.
But the mystery remains as to why March was such a bountiful month for babies in Almonte.
"Usually we have increased births in September, August, those kinds of times," says Fortune. "But there is no rhyme or reason. We had more in February too; it was a fairly busy month as well."
Ottawa mother Laura Dangerfield gave birth to her fourth child, Ezra, in Almonte, just catching the tail end of the baby boom.
"We were induced here on March 31st, and then he came on April 1st," she tells CTV News.
Dangerfield says word of mouth recommended that she give birth to her fourth child in Almonte, and she believes the high level of care may be the reason so many more babies are arriving in the Ottawa Valley hospital.
"When I was here, it wasn't too busy, or at least it didn't seem that way. I think the care here — you wouldn't have known that they were as busy as they were."
"We've got a terrific five bed unit," adds Wilson Trider. "And we are the only obstetrics unit in the Champlain region between Pembroke and the Queensway Carleton Hospital."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
OPINION What King Charles' schedule being too 'full' to accommodate son suggests about relationship with Prince Harry
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
Ontario man devastated to learn $150,000 line of credit isn't insured after wife dies
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Boy Scouts of America is rebranding. Here's why they're now named Scouting America
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Rape, terror and death at sea: How a boat carrying Rohingya children, women and men capsized
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
'A huge difference': These adults born in the '90s partnered with their parents to buy homes in Ontario
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
How Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap beef escalated within weeks
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
opinion Tom Mulcair: Trudeau's handling of Poilievre's 'wacko' House turfing a clear sign of Liberal desperation
When Speaker Greg Fergus tossed out Pierre Poilievre from the House last week, "those of us who have experience as parliamentarians simply couldn't believe our eyes," writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his column for CTVNews.ca