Bancroft baby first for midwives in 2020

Jan. 16, 2020

By Sue Tiffin

While Bancroft celebrated the coming of a new year, and began a new decade, Seth Everett Koster was preparing to become the town's newest resident.
Seth was born Jan. 3 to Rebecca Lee and Justin Koster, making him the first baby to be born in 2020 under the care of the Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft.
“He's very calm and chill, which is totally different than Finn [the couple's first child],” said Lee, a few days after his birth. “He likes to sleep, so that's unusual, and lovely.”
Little Finn Koster, who is a year and a half, is excited about the family's new addition, and his new role as brother.
“He loves his little brother, that is for sure,” said Lee. “He probably had no idea what we were springing on him, but he's doing really well with Seth.”
In September when the family moved here from Renfrew, Rebecca was already signed up with the local midwives, Lee noting them for, “the great care, and right at your doorstep.”
“I'd heard really good things from a lot of friends here in Bancroft, and they're all true,” she said of the team. “The midwives, I would totally recommend them if anyone is looking for that avenue of health care. They were wonderful.”
Lee said she appreciated how personable the midwives were during her care and Seth's birth, which was a planned c-section at Peterborough Regional Health Centre.
“The midwives care for the baby while you're getting sewn up and fixed up,” she said. “They're in there with you the whole time so you have familiar faces. You get to make jokes with them and they make you feel a lot better than just a doctor. I had to have a c-section for Finn and it was totally different.”
Seth's birth so close to New Year's Day was unplanned.
“It was just the way it worked out,” said Lee of the scheduling of the c-section. “I think it's special. I think when you look back on it, he'll have something documented that he was the first one, that'll be cool.”
Seth is also welcomed by grandparents Teresa Koster and Robert Koster of Bancroft, and Anne Lee and Fred Lee of Madoc. Lee also gave a special shout-out to her sister Melissa Acker, who cared for Finn during Seth's birth.
Lennon Skelding of Eagle Lake was the first baby born in Haliburton County under the Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft care this year, in the late afternoon of Jan. 5 at PRHC. Kinslee Hunter of Irondale is the first baby born at home under the care of the midwives this year, born in the evening of Jan. 5. Last year the Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft supported 106 babies – 48 boys and 58 girls. Seventy-two of those babies were born at hospital while 34 were born out of hospital. The midwives are currently booking clients up to and including September 2020.
For more information about the Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft, call 705-457-9992 or visit haliburtonbancroftmidwives.ca.