For one Kapaa couple, last weekend’s storm brought something more than just rain.
Fallon Mann knew her first son wanted to be here as soon as
possible.
“That’s the feeling I got when I was pregnant, he wants to be here,” she said. “He’s excited to come, he’s not going to wait. He wants to be living already.”
And in the middle of last Sunday’s storm, with rain pouring, thunder booming and lightning brightening the skies outside her birthing room, Mann’s son Axton was born. Two weeks early.
“For me it was interesting because I was so within myself it was almost like I didn’t even know (the storm) was happening, but everyone says it had this kind of energy and it was really still,” she said.
For Mann, the experience of becoming a mother during the catastrophic storm was surreal.
“It was almost as if the storm put everything in motion for the birth,” she said.
But for someone who loves storms, that wasn’t a bad thing.
“I was alone in my room (when the contractions started) and the rain just started pouring so hard and I love the rain so it made me really happy, so this was perfect. Of course my labor experience is going to be stormy because I love the storms and it made me really happy,” she said.
Her water broke in the wee hours of Saturday morning, but she didn’t go into active labor until about 9 p.m. Once the contractions started, her delivery only lasted about four or five hours.
“It was pretty quick. When the midwives got here, it was almost too late. We were setting up a tub for a water birth and we almost didn’t make it,” she said.
At 1:08 a.m. on Sunday, Mann and her partner, Adahy Kessell, became parents for the first time.
Her pregnancy was easy, she said. “I loved being pregnant, but this is better.”
Kessell said their son came quickly, and when he arrived, he was silent for 30 seconds, then cried for 30 seconds — and was silent again.
Axton means “a swordman’s stone.” He has yet to be given a middle name.
The couple didn’t pick out a middle name before the birth because they wanted it to be something meaningful.
“It was kind of like I was waiting for something meaningful to give him, so the storm was perfect, so that’s what we have to honor in the name,” she said.
They’d like to choose a Hawaiian name that has something to do with the storm. Kessell said he’s pushing for a name that begins with the letter K, so he and his son will have the same initials.
“He’s a force to be reckoned with,” said grandma Christie Mann, who has already begun calling her first grandson “Storm Rider.” “He’s here for a reason.”
For Mann and Kessell, who grew up on Kauai, it’s important that their son grows up here as well.
Kessell said he hopes his son likes surfing.
“I can’t wait to teach him how to surf,” he said.
“It’s just been such an important part of my life growing up, being close to the ocean, it’s just such a way of life for us, so that’s really important to us that he’s here in nature and gets to do all the stuff we did growing up and I just want him to do whatever he wants to do,” Mann said. “Whatever his interests are I want to give him all the opportunities for that.”
Because Axton was born in the storm, Mann said he is destined to be a strong force for something.
She writes, “Storm Rider can you hear me? I will hold you close, a new love with new eyes. The thunder and lightning you brought has made your presence known. Hold us closer through this powerful evening storm. The sun will shine again through your eyes.”
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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, can be reached at 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
What the hell happened to Kauai?!!! Is this Aprils fools?