OH, BABY

MAT-SU — It wasn’t Donald Potteiger’s first trip around the fatherhood track, but if the Valley man thought he knew everything there is to know about birthing babies, he’d have to think again.

Thursday his wife, Jackie Garrick, went into labor. The baby was right on time, splitting the two due dates doctors had provided of July 18 and Aug. 7. The couple loaded their three other daughters into the van and headed down the Parks Highway from their home in Willow, bound for Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

This latest daughter, whom they’ve named Temperance Anastasia Nycole Potteiger, had so far been the type of child parents dream of.

“It was a perfect pregnancy. You couldn’t ask for a better pregnancy. No problems, no nothing,” Potteiger said.

But it’s probably a good thing her parents decided to name her after the virtue of temperance rather than that of patience. This baby wasn’t waiting, and the contractions got a worse in a hurry.

“By the time we hit town she started having the big ones,” Potteiger said.

At Crusey Street, Garrick’s water broke.

“I hit my flashers and went through the light,” Potteiger said.

He also stepped on the gas, pushing the speedometer up past 75 and even as far as 90. As he sped down the highway, he picked up his cell phone to call the hospital. He let the staff know he was coming so they’d be ready.

“The minute I hung up the phone the baby came out,” he said. “I called them back.”

He let the doctors know they’d have two patients arriving instead of one.

“There was no way I could cut and clamp the umbilical cord while I’m driving, doing about 90,” Potteiger said.

They arrived at the hospital at 11:39 a.m., he said. Talking to him just before 2 p.m. it was clear he was still keyed up.

“I’ve still got some adrenaline pumping through me,” he said.

Temperance came out screaming, he said, and she has a good set of lungs. Mother, father and baby will be staying at the hospital for 48 hours. Since she wasn’t born in a sterile hospital, he said, doctors want to make absolutely certain she’s fine to go home.

As he spoke, Potteiger used the words “fun,” “interesting” and “quite scary” to describe the experience.

He joked that “place of birth” on his daughter’s paperwork will be a highway milepost and that his wife had, in a way, gotten her wish with this birth.

“She wanted to have this one natural. You can’t really get more natural than that,” he said.

He said Temperance will likely hear this story the rest of her life. He intends to do his part to make that happen.

“It’s one of those stories you tell and tell and tell because it’ll probably never happen again to me,” he said.

Already Thursday afternoon, he said, he’d gotten a head start. He’s called everyone he could think of. A lot of them didn’t believe him.

“I’m running out of people to tell this story to. I need to find more people,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.