Elizabeth Paris immediately calls for an emergency medical beam out, and I find myself at Starfleet Medical. Before I make it the rest of the way down the hall, both sets of parents, my sisters and Owen are beamed in. Elizabeth leads me and Chakotay to a room where he helps me out of my clothes and into a birthing gown. Halfway through the process, the searing pain of another contraction weighs down on me.
When I am dressed and positioned on the bed, Chakotay tells everyone they can come in.
"I bet that's a shower no one will forget anytime soon." Phoebe quips.
"Your speech was beautiful brother. Instead of tears, your son gave you a waterfall."
"My grandson is like both of his parents. Stubborn and contrary."
"Very funny." I begin before another pain rips through me. "Oh holy heaven!"
Elizabeth looks around before asking for everyone but Chakotay to leave.
"I'm just going to check how things are going. Want to tell me when the contractions started Kathryn?"
"I woke up at about 3:00 this morning, but they weren't like this."
"Your fluids were acting as a sort of barrier. Once they broke, you lost that barrier. I can give you pain medicine after I check your progress."
Elizabeth checks with a medical tricorder before checking with her eyes and hands.
"You're at seven centimeters, and your contractions are about three minutes apart. Would you like some medicine for the pain?"
"Yes, but don't give me any. I want to do this like a woman from Trebus would."
Chakotay smiles at me with love and devotion in his eyes, and Elizabeth simply nods.
"I wouldn't expect labor to last past this afternoon. I can bring everyone back in for a while if you like."
"Of course." I nod before focusing on the pain that is starting again.
As my family and Owen enter the room, my mother and Yatzil flank me.
"Mother, momma, I want you both in there with me. And you too, Chakotay."
"I'm glad you didn't forget about me, dear." Chakotay says full of sarcasm.
"I might've if your son wasn't torturing me."
"Why is he my son when he is doing something wrong?"
"Because I'm a perfect angel, and you are the contrary one."
"Perfect angel my foot. You just might be the most stubborn person I've ever met, my father excluded." He looks at Kolopak with a deep dimpled grin. The love between them makes me forget about the fact that the contractions feel like they are right on top of each other.
"He's got you there, Goldenbird."
"Edward talking about stubborn, that's a laugh." My mom says patting my arm.
"Let's just agree that the most stubborn woman married the most contrary man, and now they are going to have the next generation of stubborn-contrariness this family will have. I don't think anyone in this room wouldn't be classified as stubborn. Wouldn't you agree mother?"
"Wholeheartedly."
Most of the next hour passes in pointless chatter and excited conjecture about what my son will be like. Finally, at a quarter after five, I get an overwhelming urge to push.
"It's a boy." Elizabeth says as she holds him up for me to see.
"He's beautiful, Kathryn." My mom says as she rubs my sweaty cheek.
"Time of birth 6:03 pm. He's eight pounds-nine ounces, twenty two inches long." Elizabeth puts him on my chest.
"He looks so much like you, Chakotay. He's so handsome." I look into the face of my husband before he leans forward to kiss me. Before standing back up, he places a soft kiss on our son's forehead.
After I deliver the placenta and get cleaned up, the rest of my family comes back into my room.
"Hi, Littlebird." My dad's nickname for my son brings tears to my eyes. It's the same thing I have called him whenever I talked to my belly.
"Littlebird. You look like your father." After Kolopak speaks, I get the feeling that Littlebird will be a favored nickname for my son.
Chakotay picks up our baby off his chest and holds him in the air. "To our family, our parents, our sisters, and our friends, I present our son. A child blessed by Anam. From this day through eternity he shall be known as Edward Kolopak Janeway."
The smiles around the room are interrupted by the squawking of Kole. "I think someone wants his mother."
Chakotay hands him back to me. I put him on my breast and let him eat. The sensation is a lot more painful than I expected it to be, and Kole is a lot more voracious.
"Kole definitely eats like his daddy."
Chakotay leans forward as though to kiss my temple before whispering in my ear. "He certainly seems to like your breasts as much as I do."
"And he's just as rough."
"And your mother has excellent hearing." My momma says loudly.
"I didn't know you could get that red, son." Yatzil adds.
"I love some parental rubbing, but my patients really need their rest. Katie might like to see what it's like to sleep without a pregnant belly again."
"We'll see all of you tomorrow. Love you." I say as those congregated go back home.
