Special News Report:

We interrupt your regularly schedule routine habits to give you the latest breaking news.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
On November 3rd, The Westbrook Times reported that Mark and Hilary Sephton were at the beginning stages of a new chapter in life. As of 12:26pm (6:26am CT) today, the long awaited and anticipated moment finally arrived. At 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long (49cm), Lois Anne Sephton finally made her way into the world. “Lois needed some help coming into the world, Hilary had an assisted forceps delivery which we all went down to theatre[1] for,” Mark wrote in an email to his family.

The process of bringing Lois into the world was a long, hard, and draining experience. Ten days after her due date, on Sunday May 20th, Hilary was taken to the hospital at 8 am to be induced. The process was explained to Hilary and Mark a few days prior and all thought it would be a hard process but Hilary was confident that she would have the baby on Sunday.

“I talked to Hilary on Saturday and she seemed confident that she would be home on Monday. She wanted to schedule a time for me to meet my new little niece via web cam,” Hilary’s younger sister Heather recalls. “I was a bit surprised at first but I knew that we Westbrook women were strong. So I was hoping to meet her on Monday.”

As Sunday came to an end, the Westbrook family in America waited on the edge of their seats for the phone to ring with any news. The next morning, Mark sent a message to his family. “Yesterday was a long and tiring day for both of us and mentally very challenging. Things were progressing well, but at 10:30pm things slowed right down. Hilary is 1cm dilated and she needs to be at least 3cm to have her waters broken.”

That was the last news the Westbrook family heard until today. “Monday was a huge struggle for me mentally,” Heather admits. “Not knowing what was happening was about to push me over the edge. I went back and forth between wondering if she was born yet and wondering if they were having some serious complications. I did not sleep well on Monday night.”

Fortunately, at 11:46am (CT) Heather’s mind was put to rest. “I had been walking around the office since her due date with both my work cell and my personal cell phone on hand, not knowing which would ring. By Monday, everyone in the office new what was going on and was excited to finally hear that my Niece had finally arrived.”

In Mark’s recap to the family he stated, “After 17 hours of labour when they mentioned the possibility of a c section I was close to a breaking point, the whole ordeal pushed me and Hilary to a breaking point. Every minute I was coaching Hilary through each contraction helping her to relax and release small breathes, so we built up a nice partnership one which helped us both even when the urge to sleep was so powerful.”

Even after the long, grueling hours of labor and the mental marathon that left both of them close to a break down; the special moments that are shared between a parent and a child were already beginning. “When Lois was first born she was a little shocked so they gave her some oxygen and she was rasping a little bit with her breathing. As mom was being taken care of, I looked after Lois and started to sing over her. I sang from my heart over this new life and her breathing started to improve and she became a lovely pink colour. It was awesome to have that first moment with our daughter.”



















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[1] Operating room in American English