A new life in Fort McMurray
Melissa Taylor and Steven Mercer hold their son, Eli Danny Roy Mercer, on Friday. Eli is the first baby to be born in Fort McMurray since the wildfire evacuation. He was born at 5:05 a.m. at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre, weighing in at six pounds, seven ounces.
FORT MCMURRAY Fort McMurray’s newest citizen is snuggled in a soft blanket adorned with frogs and wearing a hat with bear ears.
Weighing in at six pounds, seven ounces, the first baby to be delivered at Fort McMurray’s hospital since the city’s May 3 evacuation arrived five days before his due date and only a few days after the ward’s reopening.
At 5:05 a.m. Friday, Eli Danny Roy Mercer was born in the maternity ward at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. His parents, Melissa Taylor and Steven Mercer, are just happy to be home. Sitting with their baby in a room in the maternity ward Friday afternoon, the couple said they were thrilled to welcome their son in their hometown after a month spent living in a fifth-wheel trailer on a friend’s property outside Lac La Biche.
“It wasn’t easy to see the town the way it was,” Mercer said, describing the heartbreak of driving into the city for the first time and seeing charred neighbourhoods and forests. Both Taylor and Mercer are originally from Newfoundland, but said Fort McMurray is definitely home for them now.
Taylor and Mercer said they were fortunate during the evacuation because as residents of Gregoire Lake Estates, they had extra time to gather belongings before they needed to flee.
Mercer returned earlier than Taylor and found their home intact. Taylor waited until she heard the hospital had reopened for maternity services earlier this week. She drove home Monday and checked into the hospital Thursday after her water broke.
She’s glad she made it in time: “I wanted to come home so bad.” She said she knows a few other women who have returned and expect to soon give birth.
The parents hope news of Eli’s arrival reassures others that Fort McMurray is ready for its residents to return. “Hopefully, it lets everybody know that they can come home,” Mercer said.
Though the parents had hoped to do a bit more preparation on the bedroom their new son will be taking over from his big sister, 2-1/2-year-old Abigail, he’s going to have to make do with the nursery as it was before the family was forced out.
Taylor and Mercer said they can’t wait to settle back in to their community and take their young children outside to enjoy outdoor activities that made the parents fall in love with area.