Parksville Qualicum Beach's first baby of the year arrived at 7:05 a.m. Jan. 1, a healthy, red-haired lad with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
And no name.
"We're working on it; we have multiple lists (of names)," said father Kyle Scallion, 28, as he rifled through several sheets of note paper on a side table in the family's rural Qualicum Bay home. "We keep adding to it."
"This is the problem," mother Rowan Ferrell, a 27-year-old massage therapist, deadpanned.
The seven-pound, 15-ounce, 21-inch baby boy was delivered at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital New Year's morning after a labour of 32 hours that began late in the evening of Dec. 30.
The couple, working with registered midwives Christine Weldon and Margaret Guillen of Errington Midwives, had planned to deliver their first child at home.
But that strategy was scrapped more than 20 hours into Ferrell's labour on New Year's Eve, the baby's due date, when "everyone was running out of steam," said Scallion, a landscaper.
“That was the plan,” said Ferrell, who then turned to address the nursing baby. “You just weren’t aware of the plan. So we forgive you; it’s all right. You’re small.”
Accompanied by Weldon, Guillen and a family friend from Qualicum Beach, Ferrell and Scallion went to the hospital, where Ferrell received an epidural injection and pain medication before delivering the following morning.
“The experience at the hospital was amazing,” said Scallion. “All the nurses and all the staff and the pediatrician, everyone was really great, the whole process. We got tons of education; before we left there was a little teaching period.”
The benefits provided by the hospital included warmed blankets and a double cot that was set up next to Ferrell’s bed so Scallion could sleep nearby and take turns caring for the baby. After spending the night Jan. 1, the couple finally returned home Monday, and a day later were still trying to adjust after New Year’s came and went in a blur.
“From (Dec.) 30th to (Jan.) third has been one long day,” Ferrell said Tuesday. “So, New Year’s Eve didn’t really happen.”
Coincidentally, Scallion said, Ferrell had been prepared in the preceding days to offer her services as a babysitter Dec. 31 so Scallion’s boss could attend a New Year’s Eve party.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I could totally babysit,’” Ferrell said with a laugh. “That probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.”
The new baby joins a family that includes two cats — Booties and Luna. Ferrell’s sister is visiting from greater Vancouver and has been helping with shopping and meal preparation, and other family and friends will be visiting in the coming weeks, said Scallion.
“We have so many people lined up that are interested to see Baby Scallion-Ferrell,” he said.
No word on whether the visitors will bring some naming suggestions along. The baby may have a name by the time you are reading this, but didn’t yet by press time Wednesday.