Posted on: May 1st, 2016

Dear Gold Hill Friends & Neighbors,

Please welcome the arrival of our newest (and tiniest) town member, Gabriel Asher Maedke!

Chrissy McCaul delivered Gabriel at 2AM on Friday, April 29th.  Gabriel’s arrival is 6 weeks early.  He weighed in at 4lbs, 8oz, 17.5 inches long.

The story:  Chrissy was admitted to the hospital early Tuesday morning and labored for 21 hours before they were able to suppress the contractions.  Through Thursday morning, Chrissy was kept on high levels of a magnesium drip.  The medicine was able to stop the contractions, but left her with very little muscular control.  However, it also bought time for Gabriel to receive antibiotics and steroids to prepare him for the world on the outside.  Thursday morning, Chrissy was taken off the meds and slowly gained back control of her body.  Dan took the opportunity at this point to run home to Gold Hill to gather supplies, as they had not planned on an extended stay at the hospital.  Likely due to exhaustion, Dan rolled his car on the way up Sunshine Canyon.   The car was totaled, but Dan was able to pull himself away, unscathed.  Once Dan made it back to the hospital, Chrissy was once again having mild contractions.  The doctors again gave her meds to try to suppress the contractions and put her to sleep.  At 11:30 PM, she awoke with severe contractions. At 2AM, Gabriel was born through a natural childbirth.

And Now:  Gabriel, Chrissy and Dan are living in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Rm 317 at Boulder Community Health, Foothills Campus.  4747 Arapahoe Rd.  Boulder, CO 80303.  They will be living there full-time for likely the next six weeks.  Gabriel is doing extremely well.  The entire family is happy and healthy.  The facilities and care at the hospital are world-class.   Gabriel is doing a fantastic job of breathing on his own.  He has not needed any additional O2.  He’s currently learning the art of sucking, swallowing and breathing at the same time, and taking long baths under LED lights, trying to break down some bilirubin in his system.  He’s beautiful and strong.

Needs:   Chrissy & Dan are still trying to figure out what their needs are and what their new life is going to look like.  Stacy Barry is working on coordinating meals for the family.  Feel free to contact her at: smbbru@nullyahoo.com  Jojo Morrison is also helping to coordinate care.  She is available at johanna.morrison@nullbvsd.org

Visitors:  Chrissy & Dan need to keep visitors to a minimum for the time being, as Gabriel makes gains in his health and as the new parents get their feet underneath themselves.  Visiting arrangements can be made by contacting Chrissy directly: scubachrissy78@nullgmail.com.  The hospital shuts down visitors entirely daily from 2-4PM.  Visitors MUST be in good health.

Chrissy and Dan truly appreciate the outpouring of love they’ve already received from their beloved community and can’t wait to share their little angel, Gabriel with everyone.  Dan will be working Wednesday-Sunday at the Inn, if you’d like to stop by and wish him congratulations in person.

Thank you!

Chrissy McCaul

scubachrissy78@nullgmail.com