Alaina Ann Gerken, First Baby Of 2008, Is A Real Buckeye
by Mary Huber Buckeye Staff Writer

Alaina Ann Gerken, Ridgeville Corners, is the center of attention as the Archbold Buckeye First Baby of 2008. Her parents, Phil and Kate, are both Ohio State University graduates, and plan to "strongly encourage" their daughter to continue the tradition.- photo by Mary Huber

Alaina Ann Gerken, the Archbold Buckeye First Baby of 2008, will have her choice of colleges when she grows up. Except for one.

"She will not be going to Michigan," said her mother, Kate.

Kate and her husband, Phil, met at The Ohio State University in Columbus and are Buckeyes through and through. And while Alaina won't have to go to OSU, "she'll be strongly encouraged," said her mother.

Alaina was the first baby born in 2008 to parents living in the Archbold or Pettisville school districts.

Born Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at the Henry County Hospital, Napoleon, Alaina weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

She joins a household with two cats, Bella and Agnes, and Anderson, a chocolate Labrador named after Timmy Anderson, a former OSU football player.

"Anderson is very protective of her already. He'll come in and sit beside her cradle and just watch her," said Kate.

"The cats are kind of in denial. To them it's just like another pet. They're like, 'seriously, did you need to bring somebody else in?'"

Kate's labor pains started about 3 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 8, the morning after Louisiana State University beat OSU 38-24 in the Bowl Championship Series championship football game.

"We could say the horrible loss is what threw me into labor," said Kate as she, Phil, and Kate's mother, Ann, laughed.

"She was hoping she wouldn't go into labor during the game," said Ann.

"She was having contractions all day," said Phil. "She wanted me to go with her for a walk, and I said, 'I'm not going for a walk now. The game starts in an hour, and I don't want to be at the hospital.'"

"So we watched the game," said Kate. "We were all mad (after the loss), so I went to bed for a couple of hours."

While she got up at 3 a.m., she didn't awaken Phil until 6 a.m. They went to the hospital at 11 a.m., and the baby was born at 6:56 p.m.

Alaina did give her parents a little scare during delivery. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.

"Her little head was very blue when she came out," said Kate. But she was fine after the nurses gave her oxygen.

Kate said upon seeing her daughter for the first time, "Oh, it's amazing. It's just immediate love. You can't imagine how much you could love some little person that you don't even really know yet."

The Gerkens didn't know if they were having a boy or girl.

"I had a lot of names that I came up with," said Kate.

"And I vetoed a lot," said Phil.

Kate always liked the name Alaina for a girl. Her mother thinks it's because when Kate was small, she watched the Sesame Street television show a lot. There was a woman on the show named Alaina Reed who was from Springfield, Ohio, which is where Kate's family lived at the time.

"I approved Alaina with one 'L,'" said Phil. Kate "was pushing for two."

Ann is Kate's middle name, her mother's name, and her grandmother's middle name.

Alaina's grandparents are Steve and Ann Colliflower, Mechanicsburg, and Eldor and Jane Gerken, Napoleon. Great-grandparents are Marie Gerken and Erma Clady, both of Napoleon.

Pregnant Pauses

Phil is an engineer for the drive shaft division of Dana Corporation in Maumee. Kate is a veterinarian at the Napoleon Veterinary Clinic, where she goes by her maiden name.

Kate didn't have morning sickness during her pregnancy, although she did "have to stop doing surgery a couple of times to go eat something," she said.

"It really threw the Hispanic workers on one of the farms when I stopped in the middle of a cow surgery. I said 'I'll be back,' and I took my gloves off, walked to the truck, and about 10 minutes later came back" after eating a granola bar and drinking some water.

"The cow was still wide open.

"But I thought I was going to pass out. It was in the middle of summer. They didn't know English and I couldn't tell them why I was stopping.

"But the cow was fine."

Some husbands gain weight during their wife's pregnancy, but not Phil.

"I stopped cooking, because nothing really sounded good. He ate cereal for dinner," said Kate.

Now that she's started cooking again, cereal is "just for breakfast again," said Phil.

Dating

The question as to when Alaina would be allowed to date sparked much laughter.

"He said 30 the other day," said Kate. "He's a little worrisome about certain things.

"There's all kinds of little girls in the neighborhood now," said Kate. Neighbors Bret and Tobi Ripke had daughter Lexi on Nov. 12, 2007, while Dan and Gina Benecke had daughter Autumn on Jan. 14, 2008.

"I think Phil and Dan and Bret can all just sit together at an interview table for every date, and be a panel of judges" deciding if the boys are good enough for their daughters, said Kate as they all laughed.

Prizes

The Archbold Buckeye First Baby of the Year received numerous prizes, including:

$50 gift certificate, Deluxe Cleaners; ice cream cake, Dairy Queen of Archbold; Hallmark baby photo album, Red Cross Drug Store; large pizza, any appetizer, and two beverages, Pizza Hut of Wauseon;

$20 gift certificate, Archbold SuperValu Foods; $25 gift certificate, Rupp Furniture & Carpet Co.; pound of chocolate covered nuts, Al-Meda Chocolates; $10 gift certificate, The Home Restaurant;

$50 savings bond, The Sherwood State Bank; fleece picnic blanket, RTEC Communications;

$25 gift card, Pamida; $20 gift card, Subway; one year subscription, Archbold Buckeye.