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PITTSBURG —
Kendra Kunshek, Frontenac, was pretty busy Tuesday. As usual, she started the day by working out, riding a bike and walking, before heading off to teach school in Carl Junction, Mo.
After school, at 3:30 p.m., she checked in at the new Via Christi Hospital Women’s Center and, after about two hours of labor, gave birth to Strauss Julian Kunshek with a little assistance from Dr. Gary Grimaldi, M.D.
Strauss, also the son of Scott Kunshek and little brother of Baron, will go down in hospital history as the first baby born in the new third-floor Women’s Center.
“We were here Sunday for the open house and even talked about the possibility of Strauss being the first baby born here,” Kunshek said. “We’d been talking about this for nine months, but we still can’t even believe he’s the first here.”
She said that her first son was born in the old Via Christi maternity unit, located on the second floor.
“The new third floor is much more spacious than the previous Women’s Center,” Kunshek said. “I come from a large family and three years ago we were all over each other and the doctor was not comfortable. This time I delivered in a Hilton.”
Her due date with Strauss was May 4, which she knew would probably be too late for him to be the first baby born in the new center. However, Baron was born a month early, and she had a feeling that her second child might come early as well.
Actually, he almost came before the center was ready for him.
“Two weeks ago I was close, but it passed and I kept him in,” Kunshek said.
Strauss timed it just right, according to Michael Hayslip, Via Christi public relations director.
“We started moving patients into the Women’s Center Tuesday morning,” he said.
He added that the center’s second baby, a boy named Cooper Dean Garcia, was born at 8:03 p.m. to Kelly McCormick and Josh Curtis Garcia. Dr. Angela Shaw, D.O., did the delivery.
The first baby girl Ayanah Faith Wahpepah, made her appearance at 8:03 a.m. Wednesday. The daughter of Jennifer Evans and Chance Wahpepah, Columbus, she was delivered by Dr. Daniel Koehn, M.D.
“They have way nicer rooms here and they’ve kept me pretty comfortable,” Evans said. “I have really nice nurses.”
Kendra Kunshek, Frontenac, was pretty busy Tuesday. As usual, she started the day by working out, riding a bike and walking, before heading off to teach school in Carl Junction, Mo.
After school, at 3:30 p.m., she checked in at the new Via Christi Hospital Women’s Center and, after about two hours of labor, gave birth to Strauss Julian Kunshek with a little assistance from Dr. Gary Grimaldi, M.D.
Strauss, also the son of Scott Kunshek and little brother of Baron, will go down in hospital history as the first baby born in the new third-floor Women’s Center.
“We were here Sunday for the open house and even talked about the possibility of Strauss being the first baby born here,” Kunshek said. “We’d been talking about this for nine months, but we still can’t even believe he’s the first here.”
She said that her first son was born in the old Via Christi maternity unit, located on the second floor.
“The new third floor is much more spacious than the previous Women’s Center,” Kunshek said. “I come from a large family and three years ago we were all over each other and the doctor was not comfortable. This time I delivered in a Hilton.”
Her due date with Strauss was May 4, which she knew would probably be too late for him to be the first baby born in the new center. However, Baron was born a month early, and she had a feeling that her second child might come early as well.
Actually, he almost came before the center was ready for him.
“Two weeks ago I was close, but it passed and I kept him in,” Kunshek said.
Strauss timed it just right, according to Michael Hayslip, Via Christi public relations director.
“We started moving patients into the Women’s Center Tuesday morning,” he said.
He added that the center’s second baby, a boy named Cooper Dean Garcia, was born at 8:03 p.m. to Kelly McCormick and Josh Curtis Garcia. Dr. Angela Shaw, D.O., did the delivery.
The first baby girl Ayanah Faith Wahpepah, made her appearance at 8:03 a.m. Wednesday. The daughter of Jennifer Evans and Chance Wahpepah, Columbus, she was delivered by Dr. Daniel Koehn, M.D.
“They have way nicer rooms here and they’ve kept me pretty comfortable,” Evans said. “I have really nice nurses.”
Kunshek said that the Women’s Center staff is amazing, and remembered them by name from when Baron was born.
“I’m from Louisburg and I’ve had sisters who delivered in bigger hospitals,” Kunshek said. “This is exactly the same set-up here.”
The doctors were also pleased with their experience in the center.
“The renovations and changes to the hospital’s third floor are extremely beneficial to our patients,” Grimaldi said. “From the infant security system to the central fetal monitoring system, we have made commitment to new mothers to make sure they, and their newborns, have everything they need.”
Shaw said the doctors had been anticipating being able to deliver babies in the new Women’s Center for some time.
“The first day it was open was an extremely busy and exciting time,” she said. “Our new mothers are very impressed with the features we now offer.”
As the first day progressed, more babies were born.
“We’ll probably have seven babies in less than 24 hours,” Hayslip said.
The first baby boy and the first baby girl and their families received large gift baskets in honor of the occasion. Donated by the Via Christi Auxiliary and Via Christi Administration, they contained items such as bibs, blankets, baby shoes, lotions and soaps for both the babies and their mothers.
