A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sara Haverkamp holds baby Rowyn Oak Jubie with father Jimmy Jubie Jr. by her side Monday. Rowyn was the first baby born this year at Cloquet's Community Memorial Hospital. Rowyn was a happy surprise for the couple.
Nurses Karen Schwinn and Kerri Schneberger dress baby Rowyn Monday while father Jimmy Jubie Jr. paid close attention.
Once she decided to make her entrance, Cloquet's first baby of 2022 didn't waste any time. Rowyn Oak Jubie was born at 11 p.m. Jan. 2 at Community Memorial Hospital, less than an hour after her mother and dad arrived at the hospital.
"It was quick and intense," said mother Sara Haverkamp. "There wasn't even time for pain meds."
Sara and Rowyn's dad, Jimmy Jubie Jr., had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years. When Haverkamp's daughter, 14-year-old Jayda, hit age 12, they sort of gave up. And then it happened, right in the middle of a pandemic.
"I got my second Covid shot and three months later I ended up getting pregnant," Haverkamp said. "If anyone says [the shots] make you infertile, that is wrong," she said with a chuckle.
The baby arrived one hour before her due date of Jan. 3. The happy parents had actually made an earlier visit to the hospital - at 4:30 a.m. - when Sara thought her water broke. That was a false alarm and they headed home a few hours later. She went into labor after a couple hours of sleep but stayed home until things felt more urgent.
Jubie praised the staff at CMH, especially the OB nurses Kerri Schneberger and Karen Schwinn, and Dr. Melissa Robey. Things worked out well because the nurses were in the middle of a shift change so both nurses were right there with them, both with more than 20 years of experience. Robey was on call and arrived in time for the birth, but it was close.
"The staff here was absolutely amazing, and made it easy for us in a difficult situation," he said. "At first I didn't know what to expect: it's a shock to a first-time dad. It definitely makes you appreciate your mother more."
Rowyn's first name was already planned, but her middle name was a hurried compromise. "I liked it, and after he saw I was in labor, we compromised," she said.
Schneberger told Jubie he did well. "You talked her through every contraction," she said.
In addition to her big sister, Rowyn is welcomed by her grandparents Julie and John Haverkamp and Gloria Ehrman.
Both Haverkamp and Jubie hail from Cloquet: he graduated in 1999, she graduated in 2003.
Rowyn will be in the class of 2040, they calculated. After a shocked silence, Jubie smiled: "That was my phone number growing up."
