Page 130 of Brooklynaire
“Why don’t we rent out a small hotel somewhere in the Caribbean and have a destinationwedding?”
“That would befun.”
“It keeps the numbers down and guarantees you’ll have to wear a bikini at least part of thetime.”
“You have a one-trackmind.”
“No—four.” He holds his hand up to count them off. “Tech. Hockey. Food.Rebecca.”
“That’s a lot like my list,” I whisper. “Food. Fashion. Hockey.Nate.”
“Three outa four ain’t bad,” he whispers. Then he kisses meagain.
New YorkWire
Sports Story of theWeek
June 13,2020
Team Owner Gets First Stanley Cup, First Child in Three-HourWindow
“Screaming is prettycommon on the maternity ward,” Nurse Amalah Dawn of New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital toldThe Wire. “But it’s usually about childbirth, and not abouthockey.”
That changed last night, when Brooklyn Bruisers team owner Rebecca Rowley Kattenberger, 30, watched her players win their first Stanley Cup since her husband—the tech mogul Nate Kattenberger, 35—first moved the franchise to Brooklyn five yearsago.
Mrs. Kattenberger had planned to watch game six in Nashville with her team, but went into labor a few hours before she’d planned to fly down for thegame.
“I thought—this is fine, it’s not a disaster,” Mrs. Kattenberger toldThe Wirevia email. “If the series goes to game seven, the baby and I can make an appearance at the Brooklynarena.”
But that’s not what happened. She watched a very exciting game six on the labor and delivery ward, while the medical team monitored hercontractions.
“Labor did not progress rapidly,” Nurse Dawn reported. “That’s normal for a first birth. The doctor wanted to give her an oxytocin drip to move things along, but she said, ‘Not until the third period. What if we go intoovertime?’”
Ultimately the team and the labor process both got their respective jobs done. Brooklyn broke a 2-2 tie with an early third period goal (Trevi, assisted by Castro) and followed it with another goal just ninety seconds later (Bayer, assisted by Drake). At the buzzer, they were the officialchampions.
The reaction from birthing room #407 was often loud and ultimatelyjoyous.
“During a tense part of the game, we reassured nearby patients that everything was just fine. And when Brooklyn won, everyone on the ward was pretty excited,” Dawn said. “Rebecca’s baby waited. Things went much faster after we shut off the television. She was ready to push about two hours later, and the baby was born an hour afterthat.”
Rebecca Rowley Kattenberger and Nathan Kattenberger welcomed a seven-pound baby girl into the world at ten minutes past one in the morning. Her name has been withheld from the press, but the family is healthy and restingcomfortably.
The Kattenbergers live in Brooklyn, where they will raise their daughter. Mrs. Kattenberger gave birth at the Brooklyn location of the New York Presbyterian Hospital group. Mrs. Kattenberger’s Brooklyn Bruisers Foundation raised ten million dollars for the pediatric wing of the hospital just this past year. Her hockey players also threw a holiday party on the premises inDecember.
Rumor has it that the Stanley Cup will make a visit to the maternity ward before the weekend isthrough.
When asked if this was the most unusual birth she’s witnessed on shift, Nurse Dawn dismissed that idea. “We had a baby born in the elevator just last week. You got to be pretty creative to catch usunawares.”
A ticker tape parade celebrating the Bruisers’ victory will be held on Wall Street later this month, time and date to be announced next week. Mr. And Mrs. Kattenberger plan toattend.
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