Parents enjoy eclipse, but big event comes later

The Gerlach’s celebrate the birth of their “eclipse baby,” Harlyn Emery, who was born just hours after mom and dad viewed the solar eclipse at Community Hospital last Monday, August 21. Baby Harlyn joins (left) Micah, almost ten, mom, Ashley, holding Harlyn, Hadley, two in January, Silas, three, and Asher six being held by dad, Cody. All five children are red heads, so Harlyn will fit right in.

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McCOOK, Neb. — When most of us were done watching the eclipse, we went back to work. For Ashley and Cody Gerlach, they really went to work; especially Ashley. After watching the eclipse at Community Hospital early Monday afternoon, she delivered their very own eclipse baby, Harlyn Emery, at 4:56 p.m. with the help of Dr. Lori Reece.

“We were hopeful Harlyn would come Monday, (which was actually her due date) but we didn’t know,” Ashley said. “We honestly thought she’d come a week or two early, but maybe with four other siblings at home, she thought she’d stay put as long as possible.”

She said they both wanted to watch the eclipse and it didn’t matter where as long as they could. “I was hopeful the baby would wait until at least after it was over,” she said. “I was feeling pretty good so watching honestly served as a bit of a distraction.”

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The Gerlach’s viewed the solar eclipse on the east side of the hospital with some of the cardiac rehabilitation patients as well as in the Healing Garden in front of the hospital. “There were a few other nurses and employees out watching where we were and it was really fun. We had a great view!”

Hubby and wife started their eclipse viewing a little after noon but were called back to their room by her nurse to check on Ashley and watch the fetal monitor for about 20 minutes. “We got that done and headed back out at 12:45 p.m.,” she said. “We did NOT want to miss the excitement.”

Ashley added it was a really neat experience. “It’ll be such a fun story to tell Harlyn some day. Everyone knows what it means when we say she was our ‘eclipse baby,’”

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Cody and Ashley live in Cambridge where they own and manage newspapers in Cambridge, Curtis and Oxford. Besides job descriptions of wife and mommy, Ashley is a business development consultant for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development serving 18 counties in southwest Nebraska.

Harlyn was the fifth red head to join the family. The three oldest children, all boys are Micah, who will be ten in September, Asher, six, and Silas three. Sister, Hadley, will be two in January. Grandma, Pat Rice, who works at Community Hospital as a registered dietitian, also viewed the eclipse with Cody and Ashley.

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