Chapter 91 - You're My Masterpiece

"She has 10 finger and 10 toes",  Jon says with tears rolling down his face and a smile that goes from ear to ear.

"Tell them to hold her up, I can't see her."  Beth says, with a dry mouth and her own flowing tears.  She can't see, there is a sterile drape in her way.  She has a mirror above her head, but what she can look up and see is limited.  After 6 hours of hard labor, she was forced into a c-section.  As she would contract, the baby's heart rate would decrease, telling them that the cord was quite possibly around her neck. 

"Can you hold her up so her mother can see?"  Jon asks the surgical staff.  McKenna starts to cry, Beth is overcome with joy and can hardly keep it together.  A nurse, grabbing McKenna at the back of the neck with one hand and her tiny feet with the other holds baby McKenna up so Beth can see her a little better in the mirror.  Once Beth has seen her, McKenna is laid back down on her belly and Jon is given the opportunity to cut the cord.  He hesitates, remembering that he thought it was gross when he had the other kids, but this time he had to do it.  He needed to feel that connection with his daughter.  With the surgical shears in hand, he cuts the tie that binds McKenna to her mommy.  His hands were shaking and he felt a little sick to his stomach, but once it was done and they clamped it, she was wrapped in a blanket and placed on Beth's chest.  Beth looks at her, kisses her bloody face and head and whispers, "I've been waiting for you." She kisses her some more.

Jon stands above her, with one hand on Beth and the other on McKenna, and watches the miracle that he thought he would never see.  The woman that has his heart, now has his baby.  He leans over and kisses McKenna's birth face and then kisses Beth. Beth uses her free hand to reach out and touch the man that has made her the happiest woman on the planet.  She has her baby, her family is now complete.  She starts to unwrap her, looking at her fingers and her toes and it was then that she noticed the mole on her right cheek.  "She has your mole." the tears roll down the side of her face, almost making it to her ear, but Jon catches it.

Jon snapped a few pictures of the mom and her new baby,  but didn't want it to take up too much time.  They go crazy over their new baby until it was time for her to be weighed, measured and warmed.  The neonatal nurse takes McKenna and they start doing what they need to while the surgeons close Beth up.  "Go be with her please, I don't want her alone."  Beth tells Jon, pointing over to the heat lamp covered baby bed.

He turns around and looks at her, "She's fine.  They are just wiping her off."

"Please.  Talk to her and touch her.  All of those voices are new, she needs to hear voices that she's familiar with."  Beth tells him, watching every move that is being made on and about her daughter.  Jon could see that she was serious, she wanted him over there with her.  Doing as he's asked, he takes the few steps and stands at his brand new baby girl's side.  He looks at her and says, "It's nice to meet you."  He reaches down and touches her hand.  She grabs her daddy's finger and that was all it took for the rock god to crumble.  Beth is watching him, Beth is soaking in what she sees.  She has never seen him as vulnerable as he is at this very moment.  It warms her heart and fills her eyes with tears of joy, THEY finally have their bond that will last them a life time.  

Jon watches as they clean McKenna up, paying attention to every detail that they uncover while they wipe away the blood and the vernix coating off of her.  He was a little upset when they poke her heel and made her cry, but the nurse explained that.  He wasn't impressed with the eye drops either, he wanted them to leave her alone and let her be 'just born'.  They put a diaper on her, a hospital t -shirt and a handmade hat, donated to the hospital by a woman's rotary club.  McKenna Rose Bongiovi was ready to meet her family and the rest of the world.