A Calgary couple welcomed a new baby girl into the world a day after their home was badly damaged in a fire.
Lindsay Savard and her fiance Nolan McIntyre were forced to flee from their home early Thursday morning after a fire broke out in the home next door.
At least four homes in the community of Nolan Hill were damaged by the fire.
The Calgary Fire Department said two homes suffered “significant” damage while two others had “minor” damage.
Savard and McIntyre’s house was one of the badly damaged ones, but no one was injured.
“Luckily they woke up when they did or they might not be here today,” said the couple’s friend, Karli Rommens.
Rommens said Savard was 38 weeks pregnant and was due on Dec. 18, but she ended up having an emergency C-section on Friday.
“The day after, the doctors did a stress test and ultrasound, and they said the baby needs to be removed today. But she wasn’t due for another two weeks. So a little Sophia was born on Friday,” she said.
Rommens said both the new mom and baby are doing well at a Calgary hospital.
It has been a challenging year for Savard, who has also recovered from COVID-19, Rommens said.
“It was a disaster. It was very stressful,” she said. “The last few weeks she has been recovering and now this happens.
“It’s one thing after another for them. It’s just traumatizing.”
Now with a new baby, the couple will not have their home to return to.
The couple will be temporarily living in Savard’s parents home in Airdrie.
Rommens has set up a gofundme for Savard and McIntyre, who didn’t have insurance for the home they were renting in Nolan Hill.
Rommens said donations have been coming in from people in Calgary and Airdrie as well as from the communities of Brooks, Duchess and Rosemary, where she and McIntyre had grown up.
“Their main happiness is still from being alive and having Sophia. This has been an overwhelming and amazing bonus and I can’t even believe how generous and loving all communities have been,” Rommens said.