Leo Michael Dargan will have quite the story to tell growing up.
The newborn came into the world with a “bang,” according to mom Danielle Yole. That’s because he was the first baby born on Pender Island in nearly eight years.
On January 21st, Danielle and her partner, Josh Dargan, wanted to take one last getaway before their baby arrived – a “Babymoon” trip to the remote island north of Victoria.
“It’s the last holiday you take before you have a baby,” Danielle told Victoria Buzz in an interview.
With her due date weeks away, she and Josh were assured by friends, family and even their midwife they’d be fine, so they booked a hotel, brought the dog and off they went.
“Everybody said, ‘Usually, your first one, you’re late. It never comes early.’ So I was like, yeah, we’ll be fine,” Danielle recalls.
“Then, sure enough, it comes the very next day – January 22nd.”
She says they got there on Friday and hiked up Pender Island’s Mount Norman on Saturday, only to experience quite the surprise.
“We got to the top, and on the way down, I started feeling the cramps. They came on pretty quickly. When we got back to the hotel, it was pretty intense.”
It was around 1 p.m. when Danielle and Josh got back to their room, but the ferry returning to Victoria didn’t depart until after 5 p.m. That’s when Josh called 911.
“We were in the hotel room and two volunteer firefighters showed up, and then paramedics showed up,” Danielle said.
“We went to the medical clinic, and I believe they had a midwife that showed up. They had to check my dilation to make sure that I wasn’t too dilated to transport, and I was.”
“I ended up having the baby in the Pender Island clinic.”
According to Danielle, anywhere from eight to 10 people were in the delivery room as Leo arrived just after 6:30 p.m.
“Obviously, they don’t have that much stuff at the clinic to deliver babies. I think their baby kit was about 10 years old. Good thing I planned for natural childbirth because that was the only option.”
Barb Pender, a medical assistant at Pender Island Health Centre, says “very few” babies are born on the island. In fact, the last local birth was in September 2014.
Looking back, Danielle sums the experience up as “wild,” noting it took six hours from start to delivery.
“Even though I was the one having the baby, it was probably way more stressful for Josh because we were at this hotel on Pender with our dog, and he had to call 911, pack our car and check-out.”
Danielle says dad Josh came up with the name Leo. Coincidentally, it’s his Zodiac sign.
“Josh’s first breath of fresh air in calmness was when he was taking the ferry back. He looked at the stars, and Josh’s star sign is actually Leo, so that’s where he got the name from.”
“I think that’s kind of cool,” she added. “The stars are really magical.”
