Tim Horton’s newest tot

A former Fort Frances Times carrier made another kind of delivery Nov. 18 in Tillsonburg, Ont.
Sean Parker helped his wife deliver their first child, Maia Kaarli T.H. Parker, on the floor of a Tim Horton’s washroom (yes, the T.H. stands for Tim Horton’s).
The couple, on their way to a London hospital, stopped at the Tim Horton’s so Parker’s wife, Sarah, could use the washroom. Little did she know the washroom would turn into a delivery room.
Parker recalled the day started pretty early. He said Sarah woke him up just after 2 a.m. and said she needed to go to the hospital. But he dismissed the urgency when he found out her water hadn’t broke yet.
“I told her, ‘I ain’t driving all the way to London just to be sent home,’” he said.
However, around 6 a.m., she woke him again and said she really thought they should make their way to the hospital.
There didn’t seem to be any urgency in their steps, though. The couple took time to have a shower, get ready, stop at the bank, and stop at a convenience store for cigarettes.
It was then that Sarah relayed her need to use the washroom.
“In hindsight, I kinda prophesied things,” Parker remarked. “When she told me she had to go the first time, I told her it was just the baby.”
They came by the Tim Horton’s, so they stopped. She went to the ladies’ room, he bought an iced tea for his wife and a coffee for himself. Then Parker went outside for a smoke.
“I was outside having a smoke, and went to have a second, and noticed my coffee was almost gone and realized something wasn’t right,” he said.
About 15 minutes had passed by. He remembers walking into the Tim Horton’s, holding the door for some patrons first, and hearing music playing. He didn’t see Sarah.
“I asked the lady at the counter to check on her in the washroom,” he said. “As soon as she opened the door and said, ‘Sarah?’, my wife screamed my name.
“I guess the bathrooms are fairly soundproof.
“She said she wouldn’t make it to the hospital,” he related, adding that he didn’t agree at first. “[Then] she said, ‘The baby’s coming, I can feel the head.’”
That’s when he knew. The staff called an ambulance and gathered all the towels and aprons they could find.
“She didn’t want to lay down,” Parker said. “[But] she didn’t get three steps from the toilet and out came Maia’s head. And then out came the rest of her!
“I did my best to catch her, thank God for all the towels,” he added. “Newborns are unbelievably slippery!”
Parker said he was pretty calm, thinking he needed to tie off the umbilical cord and find some way to cut it. Luckily for him, the paramedics showed up and took over.
“I was rather calm. Where it come from I have no idea!” he said. “Thinking about it now I’m more nervous. It was amazing.”
Parker was a paper carrier for the Fort Frances Times from 1979-81, and lived in the community until he was 19.
He said his last year in the district was spent on a farm with friends north of Emo because his parents had moved to London but he wanted to finish high school here.
“I helped with a number of [calf] births so thank God for that,” he said.
Parker doesn’t make it back to Fort Frances very often—only four times in the last 12 years. But he has fond memories of his time here.
“I still miss it but I hated the smell,” he mused. “I really miss my friends, the country, and the weather. I’ve been in the London area for 12 years and it always seems to be wet here.”