SARASOTA – New Year, New Decade, New Baby. A Suncoast mother rings in the New Year delivering the first baby of the decade.
While some people were out partying, others were having a baby. For the Rock family, they rocked in their own little party at SMH.
Would the baby come out on New Year’s Day? Mother, Geurtsie Rock, didn’t want the baby to come on New Year’s, but Father D’Marus Rock counted down the 8th member of his family, and won bragging rights for the first child of the decade.
“The baby was supposed to come at like 11:50, but she was ready,” D’Marus Rock said. “And we was patient. As soon as we counted down, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, I was looking at the television, as soon as it said one, I looked down and the baby was out.”
At four pounds, nine ounces, A’Lani Rock, was born. Geurtsie Rock delivered her exactly one second after twelve New Year’s Day morning.
SMH delivery nurse, Johanna Krempel, says after working there for almost 36 years she’s never seen a baby come out so close past midnight.
Labor nurses determine the time of birth as the last part of the baby coming out of the mom. In this case, it was A’Lani’s toe.
“And we have a feature on the computer where we hit a button,” Johanna Krempel said. “And for now, and that will then automatically put the time in for the delivery time. So we’re not looking at own watch, it is a computer time, which is the exact time.”
As this is something labor nurses do every day, Krempel says it’s very natural to hit that button.
The spokesperson for Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Kim Savage, says they had an all-time record high in 2019 with four thousand, one hundred, and seventeen babies.
Mr.Rock says he feels blessed to welcome this precious new gift to the world.
“I’m blessed,” Rock said. “I’m just happy to be in this situation to be a father and try to be the best that I can be to be to teach them how to be someone great in this world.”
