Every day, stronger and more hungry

Waldo County’s First Baby of Year 2020 arrives seven weeks early, and ready for action

Wed, 01/22/2020 - 5:30pm

    BELFAST — Levi Matthew Webster roared onto the scene Jan. 10 at 4:14 a.m., barely giving his mother enough time to settle into the delivery room at Waldo County General Hospital, in Belfast, before his birth. Besides earning the distinction of arriving seven weeks and four days before his due date, he is also Waldo County’s first baby of Year 2020, a lifelong honor few babies carry. Not to mention that he took his first-ever vehicle ride in a LifeFlight helicopter just moments after he was born.

    “I went into labor at 10 p.m., Jan. 9, when my water broke,” said Levi’s mother, Emily Bonin. “I went to the hospital at 1 a.m., pushed for one hour, and he was there.”

    Being a preemie, however, he was whisked immediately to an incubator, then escorted to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter, which would transport him to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Not because he was in jeopardy; rather, EMMC is more equipped to nurture preemies into good health before they go home.

    “He cried for a second, and they did a wonderful job getting him to a special incubator,” said Emily. “The doctors came in to do testing, and then away he went, on the helicopter.”

    Midwife Danielle Pelletier, for whom Emily has nothing but appreciation, told her that Levi’s arrival was happening fast, and that he would need to go to EMMC.  Emily would be monitored and cared for at Waldo County for another precautionary 10 hours after giving birth, and then she and Dylan drove to Bangor.

    Almost two weeks later, and Levi is getting more robust by the hour.

    He was born lean, weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 17.5 inches, with long legs, his mother reported. But as a preemie, he had not yet developed the ability to nurse, so he has been fed via a nasal stomach tube with breast milk that Emily pumps. 

    “He is nuzzling me, and has a pacifier,” she said, and is moving toward the day when he is consuming enough nutrients that his tube can be removed.

    Levi is named after Dylan Webster’s paternal great uncle, who was a Waldo County citizen who died when he was a child. Levi is the grandson of Robin Webster and the late Ralph Webster, of Montville, and the late Francis Bonin of Northport and Tammy Bonin Gamage and John Gamage, of Owls Head.

    Every day, Emily and Dylan travel back and forth to Bangor from Montville, and sometimes stay in Levi’s room, when they can. As they are grateful for the Waldo County General Hospital care, they likewise speak highly of EMMC.

    “It could not be better,” said Emily.

    She is feeling fine and looks forward to the day she and Dylan take Levi home. In the meantime, he is growing strong. Just as he arrived, full of vigor and almost two months early for reasons only he knows, Levi is moving fast into babyhood and ready to take on the world.


    Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657