Published: January 01, 2009 11:48 pm      

New Florence parents welcome first baby of ’09

Almost all newborns can be seen as miracles, but Michelle Andrea Wisner’s birth early New Year’s Day warranted some extra celebration.

The daughter of Ellen Trimble and Michael Wisner of New Florence was born at 12:17 a.m. Thursday in Memorial Medical Center of Johnstown, as the region’s first baby of 2009. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 19 1/2 inches.

Although Michelle arrived a week before her mother’s due date, the actual delivery took some time.

Her mother had been in the hospital with signs of early labor most of the day on Wednesday.

“I said she is going to be the New Year’s Baby,” great-aunt Debi Bartley said. “I told everybody.”

Bartley was among members of the couple’s extended family who gathered at Memorial on Wednesday to await the birth.

Baby Michelle’s grandfather, Robert Wisner, almost missed the blessed event. A professional logger, Robert Wisner was working at a West Virginia location, with plans to work straight through New Year’s and complete the job.

Then fate intervened in the form of an equipment breakdown.

“This was unexpected,” Robert Wisner said at the hospital. “We had to come back to Somerset for a winch.”

The crew was scheduled to leave early Thursday, but decided to wait through the holiday. That allowed Robert Wisner to meet his new granddaughter.

He wasn’t the only one who needed some unseen help. Michelle’s father, Michael Wisner, almost missed his daughter’s entire life when a logging accident last summer left him critically injured and miles from help.

His father was there when Michael was pierced by a large piece of wood. His stomach and spleen were severely injured.

“I held him together on the way out,” Robert Wisner said. “He said, ‘Tell my daughter that I loved her,’ but I said, ‘You’ll have to tell her yourself when you see her.’ ”

Trauma surgeons at Memorial were able to piece Michael back together and return him to full health.

“I’m lucky to even be here,” Michael said, barely taking his eyes off his new daughter.