Prince George, B.C. – Alma Baerg and her mother Stephanie are doing just fine today following the baby’s arrival early this morning at University Hospital of Northern BC.

Alma is the first baby born in northern BC in 2017, arriving at 1:55 am today, weighing in at 10 pounds, 8 ounces.  With Alma exercising her lungs in the background her mom told us over the phone that things are “really good.  Ya I was happy to have the baby early this morning and really happy to have a midwife and I thought the midwifery care was amazing.”

Stephanie says “I had had a secret desire of having a water delivery, and the midwife enabled that to happen.  I’m really appreciative of her and all the staff at the hospital, it’s been a really good experience.”

Asked why she chose a water birth Stephanie says “I hadn’t had one with my previous two (4-year-old Atticus and 2-year-old Evelyn) and I’d heard lots of different people talk about it and thought it could be a neat way to deliver a baby.  It was.  Ya, it was a little bit different than not being in the water but ya, it was nice.”

Stephanie says she and her husband Joel are “born and raised in Prince George, and then the last three years we’ve been living in China studying Mandarin.”  However, she says she wanted the birth to take place here.  “We did, I’d had the same midwife for my previous two children and I had really wanted to have her provide my care again and be able to spend time with all of our family who lives here in town.”

She says “we’ll return to China next month to study for another year, but our hope eventually is to return to Prince George and make this place our home.”  She says both her husband and herself are studying Mandarin with the plan of possibly using it for “employment or maybe being able to offer some different training or family skills to different needs within the Chinese community.”