Surprise! Son's early arrival makes him one of first suburban babies of new decade
Gabrielle Walkine was changing her 1-year-old son's diaper Tuesday afternoon when plans for a New Year's party suddenly changed. Instead, it would be a different sort of celebration as a second son, Gemarion Azriel Brown, emerged at 12:11 as one of the first babies to be born in the suburbs in 2020.
"My water just broke," the Elgin mom said Wednesday from her bed at Amita St. Alexius Women and Children's Medical Center in Hoffman Estates. "None of us were ready. We didn't have any bag or anything," she added. "We hopped in the car and ran to the ER."
The baby's father, Gabriel Brown, was putting clothes in the dryer when he heard a cry about 3 p.m. Gabrielle was only 32 weeks along in her pregnancy.
"This is totally unscheduled," he said Wednesday evening. "This was, 'Get in the car. We're leaving.'" He wanted to get there as quickly as possible but Gabrielle made him obey the speed limit on the drive to Hoffman Estates.
"We didn't need to get pulled over," she said.
The baby's heart rate began to drop even as Gabrielle had contractions she couldn't feel, she said. Finally, doctors recommended a C-section.
"We were trying to keep him in longer and he said, 'No,'" Gabrielle joked. "They explained that after water breaks like that, the reason they want to keep him in is to give him time for his lungs to develop."
Gemarion weighed only 3 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 16 inches. He remained in intensive care and needed assistance to breath and be fed. But as of Wednesday afternoon, all was well.
"Everything's looking good," Gabrielle said. "I heard his little cry after he was born. For his age, he's doing good."
Elsewhere at suburban hospitals, what may have been the first twins of 2020 arrived at 5:17 and 5:18 a.m. at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.
Theodore William Clarke and Logan James Clarke, weighed 4 pounds, 4 ounces and 4 pounds, 6 ounces respectively. Both were 17 inches long. Their parents are Sarah and James Clarke from Bloomingdale.
While a few other babies were born in suburban hospitals not long after midnight, 2020, unlike some other years, featured late arrivals.
A baby boy arrived at 12:13 a.m. at Edward Hospital in Naperville and a girl arrived at 12:16 a.m. at Northshore Evanston Hospital.
But then there was a breather. At 3:28 a.m. a boy was born at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital to an Antioch couple. Another followed at 3:58 a.m. at Amita Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.