As sun takes a break, a son arrives at Pomerene
Maria Koshmider and husband Chandler Letner were the proud parents of one of very few babies born at the exact moment the April 8 solar eclipse reached totality, as their son Ezra was born at 3:16 p.m. at Pomerene Hospital in Millersburg. The Dundee couple, along with staff members like Karissa Miller, RN, were a little too busy making their own miracle inside the hospital to pay much attention to the phenomenon going on in the heavens.
There are Christmas babies, Halloween babies, Easter babies and even Leap Year babies, but on April 8 a rare occurrence taking place in the heavens allowed one area couple to trump them all.
As the nation turned its attention to a rare sky viewing of the total solar eclipse that passed through Ohio and other states on Monday, April 8, one might have to excuse Maria Koshmider and Chandler Letner for not paying much attention.
That was because at exactly 3:16 p.m., the very moment the moon totally blocked out the sun in an extremely rare moment, Koshmider was giving birth to her son Ezra.
While there were many babies born across the nation on April 8, a tiny fraction of those were born at the very moment the sun went totally dark.
Little Ezra is now one of very few infants who will grow up with that bragging right, and what a story for his parents to pass along to family and friends as Ezra grows up.
“Everything went really well,” Koshmider said. “Both Ezra and I are doing well, and we are excited to bring a new person into the world on such a special occasion. We were talking, and this is a story we’ll be telling throughout his life.”
She said her brother cracked a joke that Ezra will now have a really fun fact for playing the game “two truths and a lie,” in which others must figure out which of three statements is the false one.
“Who is going to believe that one?” Koshmider said. “Really, what are the chances?”
Koshmider said she knew what was happening outside, but to her the only moments that mattered were taking place in their delivery room at Pomerene Hospital, where Kim Miller, the couple’s midwife, was making sure everything went according to plan.
Ezra’s due date wasn’t officially slated until the next day, but he decided he would push forward and make sure he came out on a historical day at precisely the historical moment.
“Even when we realized I was going to give birth today, who would have ever guessed that he was going to come at that exact moment?” Koshmider said.
One of the hospital’s doctors came into the room at the exact moment Ezra was introduced to the world and the sun went totally dark.
“He said, ‘It’s going to be a total eclipse baby,’ as Ezra was coming out,” Letner said.
Koshmider said she can recall staff members coming in and out of the room, taking turns viewing the eclipse, and she was aware the time was drawing near, but she was not inclined to focus on anything other than the task at hand.
As a singer-songwriter, Letner said this moment in time may produce plenty of inspiration in creating songs.
“If nothing else, I can be telling the story that way,” he said.
Letner’s newest release, which came out the day before Ezra arrived, can be found on Spotify and other media outlets and is titled “Different,” an appropriate title since this exemplifies a very different and rare experience.
“Even the timing of that release in relation to Ezra being born is amazing,” Letner said.
Koshmider said people were joking they should name their newborn Sonny and other eclipse-related names, but the couple already had their special name picked out, and it was going to be Ezra Ryse Letner regardless of the rare timing.
At 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches, Ezra was perfect.
“We weren’t tempted to change it,” Koshmider said.
The married couple has another son, 2-year-old Silas, who is already experiencing the joy of being the older brother and loving it.
“He’s pretty obsessed with baby brother,” Koshmider said. “He’s 20 months, and he already started beating on his brother. He gave him a tiny scratch yesterday, one of many to come. But he was excited, and he was precious. He wasn’t jealous. He was holding him, and it was so cute.”
The couple said they were very pleased with everyone’s support at the hospital and the professionalism everyone presented throughout their experience at Pomerene, from Miller to the nurses and family supporters.
“Everyone helped me stay focused despite everything that was happening with the eclipse,” Koshmider said.
The parents said Ezra has a striking resemblance to Silas.
The couple will undoubtedly pack away the three pairs of solar eclipse viewing glasses the hospital gave them for a photograph, and Ezra and the family will have a unique story to share throughout his life.