Scott Swanson
Natalie Renee Looney is Sweet Home’s first baby of 2012 but her arrival came with a lot more drama than her young parents expected.
Natalie was born at 5:26 a.m. on Jan. 3 at Lebanon Samaritan Community Hospital via an emergency C-section after she quit breathing after ingesting some meconium – material the infant typically passes following birth but which is sometimes expelled into the amniotic fluid prior to or during birth.
Her mother, Hailey Voldbaek, who had been in labor for 20 hours, credited Dr. Dana Kosmala with saving the baby’s life.
“She couldn’t breathe for 10 minutes,” said Voldbaek, 18.
“The doctor said she didn’t know if she could save her. They called Code 99 and everything. They had to get CPR done. Dr. Kosmala was the one who saved her.”
Natalie was rushed to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Eugene, while her mother had to stay behind at LSCH.
“It wasn’t the most fun experience in the world,” Voldbaek said. “I had to stay for two days before I could go to Eugene.”
Natalie’s father, Aaron Looney spent his days in Eugene during his fiance’s hospitalization.
After she was released, they were at RiverBend from dawn until midnight until Jan. 9, when Natalie was released.
“When I was discharged, we could go visit but we couldn’t stay the night.”
Looney, 20, works as a hook tender for Timberline Logging, while Voldbaek, who has training as a phlebotomist, plans to stay home with Natalie, she said.
They knew each other at Sweet Home High School “but never hung out,” Voldbaek said. “The end of my junior year was when I began to date him. He asked me out to the Oregon Jamboree.”
Natalie, who weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long at birth, takes after her mom, Voldbaek said.
“I was an extremely chubby-cheeked baby but she is too,” she said. “Aaron and I have similar features. We’ve actually been called siblings before, which is actually annoying.
“It’s a toss-up between whether she looks like me or Aaron.”
Grandparents are Thomas and Vicki Voldbaek, and Todd and Wendy Looney, all of Sweet Home.
The new father said he “loves” his new role.
“Fatherhood was what I expected, except there’s less crying,” he said.
Voldbaek also said Natalie “doesn’t cry very often.” But, she added, the baby seems to go No. 2 whenever her dad is around to change the diaper.
The experience “definitely wasn’t my idea of what it should be, she said. “But she’s great now.”