TAMC sees July baby bump
PRESQUE ISLE — Call it coincidence or an emerging trend, but the third week of July has, for the past several years, been the busiest week of the year for Women and Children’s Health at TAMC. That is certainly true this year. A total of nine babies were born the week of July 15, eight in a 72-hour window. For a hospital that sees on average just over 200 births a year, this qualifies as a baby boom.
Photo courtesy of TAMC
SERENA COLLINS and Jason Bonville of Portage Lake hold their newborn baby girl Lydia at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle. Lydia shares a birthday with The Prince of Cambridge.
“It has been quite busy. It used to be that March and September were the times of the year when we’d see a jump in the number of deliveries,” said Pam Lilley, manager of Women and Children’s Health at TAMC. “Looking back in recent years, July is clearly the month when the largest number of babies are born at our hospital.”
According to the registered nurse, the buzz on her floor as of late hasn’t only been about being busy. Attention to what is happening in Great Britain with the recent birth of son George Alexander Louis to Prince William and Princess Kate has been a topic for the parents of many of the newborns her team has delivered and expects to deliver in the coming days.
“There has been some excitement with the patients as the delivery of the royal baby has been expected. Not in the sense of paparazzi in front of the building or anything like that, but certainly with the parents and their families who wondered if their newborn would be born on the same day as the third in line to the British throne,” said Lilley.
As it turns out, two families delivering their babies at TAMC now share that honor. For one of the new mothers in particular, Serena Collins of Portage Lake, who owns and operates the Ashland Diner with her mother, Amy Collins, the coming weeks will be filled with “I told you so.”
“People coming into the restaurant were constantly telling me over the past few months that Princess Kate and I would have our babies on the same day. Looks like they were right,” said Collins. “I’ve watched the Royal Family since Princess Diana’s death and I have visited England, so the thought of having my baby on the same day as Princess Kate had crossed my mind, even before my customers pointed it out. It is certainly something to note in the baby book.”
Like the British Royals, Collins and her fiancée, Jason Bonville, didn’t want to know before the birth whether they were expecting a boy or a girl. Similarly, they also didn’t have a name for the baby immediately selected.
However, unlike the British Commonwealth, which welcomed the Prince of Cambridge, The County welcomes the Princess of Portage Lake as Serena Collins gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl Monday, July 22 at 6:02 p.m. After some thought, the couple named the baby Lydia Bonville, with a middle name yet to be determined.
In the meantime, the coming weeks with their newborn daughter and her 2-year-old big sister Kilynn will be exciting ones. Serena and Jason are set to be married Sept. 7.
Lydia Bonville was delivered by TAMC’s Dr. Joyce Hebert. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 11.5 ounces, and measured 20 inches long.
Maternal grandparents are Jim and Amy Collins of Portage Lake. Paternal grandparents are Stanley and Nora Bonville of Presque Isle.
