Yellowknife new years's baby number one for city couple
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 05/01) - A young hockey-playing couple have scored the biggest goal of their lives -- becoming the proud parents of their first child, Yellowknife's first baby of 2001.
"There's going to be constant arguing over who he plays like, me or Dean," said mother Jill Herbert.
With husband Dean Cluff at her side, Herbert gave birth to Markus Herbert Cluff at 3:23 a.m. on Jan. 2. Markus was an underage selection in life's entry draft and, as a result, weighed in at a slight but healthy five pounds 13 ounces.
"We never expected to have the New Year's baby," said the proud father. "With a due date of Jan. 24 it never entered our minds."
When Herbert went into labour late New Year's Day, the couple was advised to expect it to last about 14 hours, since it was Herbert's first child.
The delivery proved far easier than anyone expected. "Essentially, four hours from leaving the house we had a son," said Cluff.
At the last minute, Herbert said she gave Cluff, a wildlife biologist, one last chance to back out of the delivery room scene.
"He said, 'Jill, I've seen coyote pups being born, I'll be fine,'" recalled Herbert.
A day and a half after the event, the new parents were still coming to grips with the miracle of their first child.
"I wonder when it wears off, the feeling that, 'Yeah, that's our baby,'" said Herbert.
The marriage and the child are both firsts for the popular W.I.M.P.S. hockey organization. Both Cluff and Herbert have played in the pick-up league since meeting on the ice in December 1995.
The two praised the staff of Stanton Regional Hospital and said they feel very fortunate to live in a city with such good health care service and a country in which such service is freely available to all.
Inuvik Regional Hospital delivered the first baby born this year in the NWT. Michael Gurney Elms, son of Inuvik residents Megan Holsapple and Steve Elms, took his first breath at 5:53 p.m. New Year's Day.
