Cartwright is first Lake County baby of the year

By Michelle Lovato

Lake County Leader

Daniel James Cartwright Jr. yawned at the intrusive camera flash blasting into his eyes Friday.

It did not seem to matter much that he was being passed around between three people, and that he was being moved from the warmth of his crib from nurse to mom to basket then back to bed.

Cartwright Jr. was ready to take the experience in stride. After all, the flash of a camera is the least of his startling experiences in the past 36 hours.

Born at 12:54 p.m., Jan. 1, Cartwright Jr. was Lake County's first baby of 2015.

And his midday birth was a celebration of life, love and family between the child's parents, Lynn Zeiler and Daniel Cartwright, both of Ronan and the St. Luke Community Hospital staff.

But the love for the hospital's first baby of the new year doesn’t stop at hospital lobby doors. Area community members collected baby items for the newborn New Year’s baby for the past 12 months, all in an effort to welcome the baby into the new year.

Zeiler said that doctors medically induced labor for her full-term child during the afternoon of New Year's Eve. As she and Cartwright waited, Zeiler’s labor proceeded normally. At birth Cartwright weighed 7.8 pounds and was 20 inches long.

“When he was born, he had to cord wrapped around his neck,” Cartwright Sr. said. “He was blue.”

But delivering family practice physician, Paul Gochis of Ronan began delivering babies in 1983 and he quickly maneuvered the child to a position where he could begin breathing normally.

Registered Nurse Tabitha Normandeau said the birth of a child is a beautiful miracle.

“I love to watch the look on the parent's face when they see their child,” Normandeau said. “There's really not anything like it.”

OB Manager Annesha Taylor said 161 babies were delivered in 2014, which is an average birth rate for St. Luke Community Hospital. During 2012, the hospital experienced its highest childbirth number of 174.

In celebration of Cartwright Jr.’s well-time arrival, hospital staff presented the newborn’s parents with gift cards from 23 stores and 25 different baby items any new parents might appreciate.

Cartwright Jr. joins three older siblings in his family: Ladeva, 8, C.J., 6 and Jaxson, 18 months, who were home waiting for their baby brother with grandma.