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At some point between leaving a refugee camp in Jordan and getting settled at her new home in Fort McMurray, Ibtesam Alkarnake’s water broke.

She did not tell her husband, Medyan, or her three sons and daughter, because she hoped the baby would be born in Canada. Alkarnake’s family had no clue she was enduring hours of labour pains as they spent nearly 24 hours in the air.

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Neither did the sponsors from Fort City Church or the handful of residents who showed up to greet the arriving family on Tuesday evening know she would soon give birth to a healthy boy, Eyad. They had been in Canada just under 10 hours when the baby arrived.

“She was so determined to get here and have her baby in Canada,” said Pastor Doug Doyle. “We thought she was about seven or eight months pregnant. She had already been cleared to fly after she had a medical check in Jordan.”

Before landing in Fort McMurray just after 8 p.m., the family had boarded a plane from Amman, Jordan, to Frankfurt, Germany. From there, they flew directly to Calgary, where they spent a few hours before boarding an Air Canada flight north.