Local Video
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| First baby of year is born late Jan. 4 |
By: EMILY HARTLEY, Special to the News
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Posted: Tuesday, January 5, 2010 9:37 pm
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NORTHFIELD — It took 22 hours of labor, but Gabriel Matthew Renderos, son of Jon and Jess Renderos of Northfield, became Northfield Hospital’s first baby of 2010 late Monday night, four days into the new year.
“They told us when we came in, ‘We haven’t had the first born baby,’” Jon said. “We were kind of dumbfounded.”
That was at 7 a.m. on Monday, about six hours after Jon woke to find his Northfield High School sweetheart, Jess, still awake, trying to finish a book. Pregnant with their first child, she stopped reading at 1:30 a.m., when she began having contractions.
“When she was going to go to sleep, she started going into labor,” Jon said. “One long day turned into one very long day.”
Family members arrived at the house at 5 a.m., and they waited to head to the hospital until 7 a.m., when the main entrance opens.
With temperatures in the 20s below zero, the couple was surprised Gabriel was born before his Jan. 7 due date, and they took precautions against the bitter cold.
“Most first times go like a week over,” Jess said of her pregnancy. “We figured it’d be later because of how cold it was.”
“We started the car twice” to be sure it would make it to the hospital, Jon said.
Things slowed down at the hospital until about 7 p.m., and after nearly a day of labor, Dr. Amy Ripley delivered Gabriel at 11:50 p.m., weighing 8 pounds and measuring 21 inches long.
“Dr. Ripley told us a couple months ago that she had never had the New Year’s baby, and I said, ‘I’ll work on that for you,’” Jess said.
“I guess [Gabriel] heard us,” said Jon.
The couple will receive a package full of products from Northfield businesses, the culmination of an unusually long wait for the first baby of the year.
“Usually a minute after midnight, someone’s in labor — a little more dramatic,” hospital spokesperson Scott Richardson said. “Although this has its own suspense.”
Jon and Jess Renderos didn’t know whether their baby was a boy or a girl, but when their son Gabriel Matthew was born, they settled on a name right away.
Jon, who enlisted in the Army after high school, had always liked the name, but when his mom told him she prayed to the angel Gabriel while he was away, his decision was made.
“That [name] was of big significance to me,” Jon said.
Jess’ mom also had a dream about a little boy named Gabriel, “so I guess it kind of crept in,” Jess said.
The couple welcomed the easy choice, with Gabriel being the only boy name on their list.
“We had three girl names picked out, so maybe that’s how it was supposed to be,” Jess said.
— Emily Hartley, a Carleton College student, is serving as a Northfield News intern. She can be reached at 645-1106 or ehartley@northfieldnews.com.
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