Fargo baby born during storm

FARGO — Natalie and Joshua Bedard were enjoying a relaxing late Christmas morning.

But then Natalie felt a twinge and turned to her husband: Soon it will be time to go to the hospital, she said.

The Fargo couple were expecting their first child to arrive Saturday, but little Alexander had his own schedule.

Under normal conditions, the five-mile drive from their apartment in south Fargo to Innovis Health would be a 15-minute cruise.

But this was in the midst of the Christmas blizzard, with howling winds and what would turn out to be more than 8 inches of new snow.

“We were worried that something might happen in the middle of the storm,” Joshua said later.

After Joshua dug out an escape route from the garage, the couple piled into their Volkswagen Jetta, uncertain whether they would be able to get out of the snow-clogged parking lot of their apartment.

Josh blasted the engine – slowly, tires spinning, the determined Jetta was able to break through. But what obstacles lay ahead?

At times encountering whiteouts, the couple slowly made their way. It all seemed a bit surreal to Natalie. “I was like, Are you kidding me?”

It turned out to be the Bedards’ toughest obstacle, but they couldn’t relax until they made it safely to the hospital.

“The roads weren’t the greatest,” Joshua recalled later. I’ll be honest – I ran a red light. I didn’t want to risk getting stuck. Luckily the traffic was light.”

More than nine hours later, at 9:44 p.m., Alexander made his debut, giving his parents a Christmas present.

He made a rather large package: 9 pounds, 15 ounces — just an ounce shy of 10 pounds, as his dad points out.

“We’re just relaxing,” Joshua said Saturday afternoon, as his newborn son slept in his bassinette, unaware of the drama his entrance presented.

But the storm kept both sets of grandparents from being able to get to town in time. Natalie’s parents were snowbound at home in Lisbon, N.D., and Joshua’s on the Minnesota Iron Range.

Alexander is due to go home Monday. By then, the storm will be a vivid memory for his parents. And getting home should be much easier than getting to the hospital in the midst of a blizzard.

Patrick Springer is a reporter for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

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