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Seattle Mariners

Mariners’ Ackley settles in after premature birth of son

Janie McCauley Associated Press
PEORIA, Ariz. – Dustin Ackley and his 7-months- pregnant wife were about an hour from stop No. 2 in their cross-country trek from Michigan to Arizona for the start of spring training when her water broke outside Oklahoma City. The Seattle Mariners’ left fielder also had two dogs in tow, so the couple acted quickly to figure out the best plan. It was approaching midnight on Feb. 18. Ultimately, Ackley dropped Justine at the hospital and he stayed with their pups. When she called about 7 a.m. the next morning, he returned to the hospital with less than 15 minutes to spare. Parson Bennett, a remarkably healthy 5 pounds and 12 ounces, joined the world almost six weeks early – with a birthplace far from what they’d expected. Now out of the infants’ intensive care unit, Ackley hopes mom and baby will join him in Arizona over the coming days. “We were going to make about three stops on the way out and Oklahoma City was where we were stopping the second night,” Ackley recalled Saturday morning before a rain-altered day of baseball work. “She wasn’t due until the end of March. Definitely it was a pretty big surprise. We were planning on getting out here and having to worry about him maybe coming when the season was getting ready to start, so that was what we were more worried about. We weren’t really thinking, ‘Oh, he’s going to come during this road trip.’ Pretty crazy trip, for sure.” Parson has been off oxygen for a few days and moved from an incubator into a more normal hospital bassinet. That gives Ackley some comfort given he had to leave his wife, who now has his mother with her for support, and first baby to join the Mariners on time. His son had improved enough that he felt he could go. They began their annual 2,000-mile, 30-hour trip in Lapeer, Michigan, outside Flint. They stopped in St. Louis the first night. From Oklahoma City, the original itinerary included a night in Albuquerque before pushing on to the Arizona desert. “It was definitely a surprise,” Ackley said. For the 27-year-old Ackley, seeing his son with tubes and needing assistance because of the premature birth was the hardest part. Now, he is counting the hours until Parson can be released and come join dad’s baseball life. Baseball at least provides a daily distraction for Ackley. “I’m good,” Ackley said with a smile. “At first it was pretty scary. That was really tough, but before I left he started progressing really nicely and I felt comfortable getting out here.”