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Kevin Stevens and Jessica Gordon admire their son, Brayden Wayne Stevens, the Family Maternity Center's first baby. |
BROOKVALE
--Barely 3 days old, Brayden Wayne Stevens has already made history.The 6-pound, 10-ounce Callao boy is the first child born at the new Family Maternity Center of the Northern Neck, near Kilmarnock in Lancaster County.
"He's wonderful," said Jessica Gordon, Brayden's 21-year-old mother. "I have no regrets whatsoever about coming here to have my first child."
"He's amazing," said the boy's 20-year-old father, Kevin Stevens, a landscaper.
According to clinical director Jessica Jordan, the baby was "caught" at 12:30 p.m. Sunday by certified nurse midwife Amber Price. Registered Nurse Jacqueline Starkey assisted. Dr. James F. Hamilton, the center's medical director, showed up for the final push.
Hamilton once delivered hundreds of babies a year at Rappahannock General Hospital in Kilmarnock. But the hospital closed its labor and delivery rooms in 2004 because of liability risks and high insurance costs. The closure forced Northern Neck moms to deliver their babies an hour or more away at hospitals in Richmond, Fredericksburg or Tidewater.
The end of obstetrical services led to a six-year community effort that marshaled local, state and federal support to build the $2 million birthing center. It opened last month. Brayden was born in one of the center's two birthing rooms.
Gordon was in labor 14 hours. She spent many of them in a birthing tub that helps relieve labor pain, said Jordan.
"The labor and delivery were extremely painful," said Gordon. "I thought I'd die before the baby was born. I just wanted him out."
Hamilton said he spent much of Gordon's long labor making coffee and occasionally encouraging Gordon, her husband and nurses in their work. Seventeen family members also filled the center's two waiting rooms in support of Gordon's efforts, said Jordan.
Hamilton helped Gordon at the end. "After years
"If it were not for Dr. Hamilton coming in, I don't think I would have made it. I needed some final encouragement. I grabbed his arms and gave one more big push and that was all I needed," Gordon said.
"The real significance of this birth is that this woman now feels like she's done something huge," said Jordan.
"Natural childbirths are empowering to women. Now she will also have confidence in child rearing. She will now tell her friends about her experience. It will speak loudly to the whole community," Jordan said.
Kevin Stevens, the boy's father, is also likely to talk about it for years to come.
"Once I heard him cry, I just ran outside and sobbed and sobbed. I was crying tears of joy. Then I came back in and cut his cord and held him in my arms. It was the happiest day of my life," he said.
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
