Melanie Cappiello and Eric Stebenne celebrated the advent of another year as per usual on Tuesday evening with the popping of a champagne cork at the midnight hour.
A short time later, there was something much more exciting to celebrate — the birth of Red Deer’s 2014 New Year’s baby, their son Luca Stebenne. The couple’s third child came into the world at Red Deer Regional Hospital at 4:26 a.m. Wednesday, weighing a healthy seven pounds, 15 ounces.
The common-law couple celebrated New Year’s Eve on Tuesday night by watching Québécois television shows, and at midnight Stebenne had some champagne to celebrate. With Cappiello’s parents, visiting from B.C., they enjoyed the evening before turning in at 2 a.m.
They would not be asleep long.
“She woke me up at 3:27 a.m. We got ready really quick, took a quick shower, came down to the hospital and hit a locked door at the entrance we normally use. So we had to go to (the emergency department), so that delayed us a little bit.
“We made it to the delivery room at 4:18 a.m., and two contractions later at 4:26 a.m., the baby was here,” said Stebenne, 42.
Two hours later, Cappiello, 32, had showered, changed, and was feeling great. She had never really considered the possibility that she could give birth to the city’s New Year’s baby, because doctors had given her due dates of Jan. 2 and Jan. 4 in her pregnancy’s early stages.
“I knew it was probably going to happen fast, I just didn’t know when,” said Cappiello.
Fast indeed. The couple’s first two daughters took three and two hours respectively, including driving time, to be delivered; Stebenne joked that if the couple continues having children, he might have to deliver the next one himself in the garage.
Both Cappiello and Stebenne are originally from Quebec, and they came to Red Deer in early 2013 from B.C. The couple crammed into a fifth-wheel trailer with their now four- and two-year-old daughters for their first five-and-a-half months in the city before moving into a new home in August.
Both of Luca’s parents work with the RCMP — Cappiello is a constable with the Red Deer force; Stebenne, a sergeant, is a trainer at the Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail.
The parents have never known the sex of their children in advance of them being born, and so had the name Luca picked out in 2009 — the only boy’s name they could agree upon.
Last year’s New Year’s baby in Red Deer was born at 12:04 a.m., but this year Luca won the title comfortably, as there was not another birth for a few hours after he was born.
mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com
A short time later, there was something much more exciting to celebrate — the birth of Red Deer’s 2014 New Year’s baby, their son Luca Stebenne. The couple’s third child came into the world at Red Deer Regional Hospital at 4:26 a.m. Wednesday, weighing a healthy seven pounds, 15 ounces.
The common-law couple celebrated New Year’s Eve on Tuesday night by watching Québécois television shows, and at midnight Stebenne had some champagne to celebrate. With Cappiello’s parents, visiting from B.C., they enjoyed the evening before turning in at 2 a.m.
They would not be asleep long.
“She woke me up at 3:27 a.m. We got ready really quick, took a quick shower, came down to the hospital and hit a locked door at the entrance we normally use. So we had to go to (the emergency department), so that delayed us a little bit.
“We made it to the delivery room at 4:18 a.m., and two contractions later at 4:26 a.m., the baby was here,” said Stebenne, 42.
Two hours later, Cappiello, 32, had showered, changed, and was feeling great. She had never really considered the possibility that she could give birth to the city’s New Year’s baby, because doctors had given her due dates of Jan. 2 and Jan. 4 in her pregnancy’s early stages.
“I knew it was probably going to happen fast, I just didn’t know when,” said Cappiello.
Fast indeed. The couple’s first two daughters took three and two hours respectively, including driving time, to be delivered; Stebenne joked that if the couple continues having children, he might have to deliver the next one himself in the garage.
Both Cappiello and Stebenne are originally from Quebec, and they came to Red Deer in early 2013 from B.C. The couple crammed into a fifth-wheel trailer with their now four- and two-year-old daughters for their first five-and-a-half months in the city before moving into a new home in August.
Both of Luca’s parents work with the RCMP — Cappiello is a constable with the Red Deer force; Stebenne, a sergeant, is a trainer at the Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail.
The parents have never known the sex of their children in advance of them being born, and so had the name Luca picked out in 2009 — the only boy’s name they could agree upon.
Last year’s New Year’s baby in Red Deer was born at 12:04 a.m., but this year Luca won the title comfortably, as there was not another birth for a few hours after he was born.
mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com