Meet the county’s first baby of 2021
Just after midnight on the first day of the year, Maddison Mae Pritchard entered the world. She is the first baby to be born in Humboldt County in 2021.
Her mother, Shellby Pritchard, of Willow Creek, said Maddison Mae is happy and healthy.
“She is doing great,” Shellby Pritchard told the Times- Standard on Monday morning.” She is pretty happy, pretty mellow.”
Maddison Mae weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and is 20 inches long.
She was born at Mad River Community Hospital, and the arrival is an addition to the Mad River hospital family.
“The first baby of the year was an MRCH employee’s grandbaby,” said Amber Strong, who works in the birth center at Mad River.
Shellby Pritchard confirmed it was her father, Paul Pritchard, who works at Mad River.
The hospital said a quilt was given to the new mom.
Shellby Pritchard also said Maddison Mae has an older sister who is 4.
Strong said there have been a few changes at the hospital as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. One of the key changes limits the number of people allowed in the hospital.
Strong said the changes include “not being able to have the whole family coming in to see the parents and the baby.”
“Birthing mothers can have two support people during the birth and only one person is able to stay with her during her stay,” Strong said.
Asked whether there was any baby boom being seen at Mad River Community Hospital because it has been roughly nine months since the county ordered residents to stay at home in March 2020, Strong said, “We have not seen a baby boom at our hospital, as of yet that is.”