Kale Kenneth Rentz will forever be known as Barrhead’s 2012 New Year’s baby after coming into the world at 3:36 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
Kale is the third son and fifth child of Terry and Jennifer Rentz, joining older sisters Ashlyn, 11, Raelyn, 9, and brothers Kayden, 6 and three-year-old Liam.
Jennifer said Kale was actually late, because he had been due on Dec. 29, but chose to wait a few more days.
“We were hoping he’d be born before Christmas,” Terry said.
On Jan. 1, Terry and Jennifer went to the hospital in the morning, after leaving the rest of the family at Jennifer’s mother’s house. At the hospital, the nurses put Jennifer on the drip at about 10:30 a.m. to induce labour, but nothing happened for a while.
At 3 p.m., she said her contractions started, and less than 40 minutes later she was holding her youngest son in her arms.
“Once they started it was pretty quick,” she said. “It was pretty painful, but it was quick.”
Throughout the whole experience, the only member of the Rentz family at the hospital was Terry, at least until the other kids arrived to meet their baby brother.
Since Kale has come home, Jennifer said her two daughters have not been able to get enough of their brother. They’ve been very helpful and always want to hold him, she added.
“We actually have three mums now,” Terry said. “That’s pretty handy.”
On the other hand, Liam took a bit of time adjusting to the new housemate, Jennifer said.
“(He) wasn’t so sure to begin with, but now he’s warming up,” she said.
Having a new baby in the house hasn’t had too much of an impact on the family, other than the fact Kale isn’t quite as sound a sleeper as everyone else.
In addition, the family’s routine has remained fairly unchanged.
Having five kids in the house does mean mom and dad need to be organized, but Terry said that hasn’t been a problem.
“Jenny’s a pro at raising kids,” he said.
Terry added that he was thankful for the work of hospital staff in delivering his son.
“The nurses and Dr. Wepener, they were awesome,” he said.
When they realized they had the first baby born in Barrhead this year, Terry said he and Jennifer realized what that might mean.
“The first thing we said was, ‘Oh geez, we’re going to end up in the paper,’” he said.
