Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
KATIE AND Justin Brownell hold Makenna Rae Friday, the first baby of 2018 born at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital. Makenna was born on Jan. 2 at 1:32 p.m., two days early. Makenna's curly-haired big sister, Andi, made sure she was in the picture, too.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - Katie and Justin Brownell brought the area's first baby of 2018 in with a bang.
Sweet little Makenna Rae was not scheduled to arrive until Jan. 4, but she decided to arrive two days early at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital.
Makenna was born at 1:32 p.m. on Jan. 2, weighing in with a fighting weight of 6 pounds, 10 ounces. She stretched the tape at 19.5 inches.
The Brownells, from Ironwood, married in 2015 and got to work right away with the baby-making.
Justin, from Wakefield, and Katie (Kuker), from Ironwood, showed more than just sports teams can happily merge in the area. Neither parent wanted to wait to discover Makenna's sex until birth, so they found out as soon as possible and threw a gender-reveal party with their friends and family.
Katie's students at the Hurley K-12 school are, no doubt, excited about the early arrival. She teaches pre-kindergarteners.
Katie said Aspirus was great, the delivery was very good, and they are already looking forward to another baby in the future.
The nurses and doctors were "great" and they had lots of visitors. The Brownells said a lot of their friends already have children, so they have been able to learn from their friends and get lots of good advice and tips.
The family is "super happy and excited," according to Katie.
Makenna is the first grand baby on her side of the family and after two years of trying, "she is our little miracle." They knew at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 2 Makenna was coming so they drove to Aspirus. The Brownells figured Makenna knew how excited they were for her arrival so she decided to come early.
