Kit Floriselle Shirley was born at North Shore Hospital in Grand Marais on Saturday, May 7, 2016 after quite an adventure.
Her parents, Clare and Dan Shirley of Tofte, operators of Sawbill Outfitters, planned to deliver their daughter in Duluth as North Shore Hospital stopped offering birthing services in January 2015. Clare saw a Grand Marais physician for prenatal care and another in Duluth in preparation for delivery there.
However, baby Kit had other ideas. Clare went into labor at the outfitters 24 miles up the Sawbill Trail at midnight.
By the time the couple reached the bottom of the Sawbill, it appeared there would not be time to make it to Duluth. With a Cook County Sheriff Deputy escort, the couple sped to the Grand Marais hospital, meeting the Cook County Ambulance in about 15 miles. Clare was transferred into the ambulance. After being reassured that if delivery was imminent, the ambulance would pull over so he could be present, Dan followed as quickly as he could in the car.
He arrived at North Shore Hospital as Clare was being taken into the hospital at about 1:50 a.m. They were taken to a regular hospital room and after a few rounds of pushing, Kit was born at 2:32 a.m.
At birth she weighed 8 pounds ½-ounce and was 18½ inches long.
Kit’s delighted grandparents are Bill and Cindy Hansen of Tofte; Bob and Danette Shirley of Santa Fe, New Mexico; great-grandparents Arline Johnson and Keck Melby of Hovland; Mary Alice Hansen of Tofte; Joan Floriselle Shirley of Trego, Montana and Dan Marinkovich of Anaconda, Montana.
Kit’s middle name is the same as her great-grandma Joan’s middle name.
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