Baby on board

Nov. 23, 2006

By Michael Rovito

Frontiersman

PALMER - He wasn't supposed to arrive until December, but Sarah Van Buskirk's baby had different ideas.

So different, that Van Buskirk's father, Ron Langenhuizen, ended up delivering the baby in their car on the side of the Glenn Highway near Mirror Lake on Nov. 6.

As the rest of Alaska slept in their warm beds, new life was coming into the world on the frozen highway into Anchorage.

&#8220I thought I was going to be able to make it to the hospital,” Van Buskirk said after she and Liam - her baby boy - arrived home from the hospital last week.

Liam had been staying in the hospital while he battled pneumonia, brought on after fluid made its way into his lungs during birth.

Both baby and mom are doing fine now, Van Buskirk said.

The side-of-the-road-baby saga began in the early morning Nov. 6, when Langenhuizen received a call from his daughter, who told him she was having labor pains much earlier than expected, sending Langenhuizen scrambling over to her house.

Since the family wasn't expecting Liam until December, Van Buskirk's husband, Lucas, was off deer hunting.

&#8220He didn't get anything, though,” Sarah Van Buskirk said, laughing about her husband's lack of luck and what he missed while he was gone.

After arriving at the Van Buskirk residence, Langenhuizen loaded up his daughter and headed toward Anchorage in the chilly darkness of the early winter Alaska night.

&#8220We pulled into the Valley Hospital parking lot, but she said she thought she could make it to Anchorage,” Langenhuizen said, adding that if he were in the situation again he would go to the nearest hospital.

As the pair made their way to the Native hospital in Anchorage, Van Buskirk began to give birth. Langenhuizen, a carpenter by trade who also teaches at Alaska Job Corps, pulled his Chevy Avalanche off the road at Mile 23.7 Glenn Hwy.

&#8220It probably wouldn't have worked in a smaller car,” Van Buskirk said.

As the temperature hovered around 6 below zero, Langenhuizen said he tried to make his daughter as comfortable as possible, and did what he could based on limited knowledge of how to deliver a baby.

&#8220It was an experience. Something I could put in my resume,” Langenhuizen said with a chuckle.

At 12:44 a.m., Van Buskirk's little bundle of joy came into the world on the side of the highway.

&#8220I wouldn't have done anything different,” she said. &#8220It's going to be extra special to tell the baby that grandpa delivered him.”

For Langenhuizen, the end product was worth the fiasco.

&#8220He's a keeper,” he said. &#8220He'll be a special one.”

As of Wednesday, Liam was still putting on weight and accompanying his mom to the Pitter Patter Children's Boutique, which Van Buskirk owns. The family was gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday, where Van Buskirk said Liam is sure to be the main attraction.

And Van Buskirk is banking on a lifetime of memories from her highway experience, and a special relationship between her little boy and his grandpa.

&#8220I think it will be awesome for him and my dad because they will be able to talk about it forever,” she said.

Contact Michael Rovito at

352-2252 or michael.rovito@

frontiersman.com.