At one point during a stop-and-start labor that stretched from Friday morning to late afternoon Saturday, Mitch Wishnowsky’s wife, Maddie, asked the nurses if they had any nausea medication.
For her husband.
Wishnowsky, after all, thought the process was going to begin five days earlier when Maddie had been scheduled to be induced. But it kept getting delayed, and with every day that passed his anxiety grew. It didn’t help that the couple in the room next to theirs went through what the Aussie punter described as a “gnarly” delivery Friday night.
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So by the time the Wishnowky’s baby — a 7-pound, 13-ounce girl named Bowie — made her entrance, Wishnowsky was a mess.
“Maddie killed it. I didn’t,” he said of the delivery.
The dynamic even made it into Kyle Shanahan’s emotional, expletive-filled postgame speech following his team’s 33-22 win over the Bears. Shanahan gave one game ball to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who finished with 322 yards a pair of rushing touchdowns. He handed another to a bleary-eyed Wishnowsky, who didn’t attempt a single punt that afternoon.
The ball wasn’t exactly for him.
“I gave one to Mitch’s wife, Maddie, because I heard she was very tough,” Shanahan explained. “We kept checking in on them, and he said he couldn’t eat and he was throwing up because he was so nervous.”
Whatever it takes 💪
Congrats on the arrival of your baby girl Mitch & Maddie 💕#SFvsCHI pic.twitter.com/WmdrCkdYuh
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 31, 2021
After Thursday’s practice, Wishnowsky gave the timeline of last week’s events.
He said Bowie was born a little after 5 p.m. Saturday. First mom held the baby. Then Wishnowsky cradled his daughter for the first time. He said the stress that had built up over the previous days melted away and his stomach finally settled as he gazed at the newborn.
Then he realized had to get to Chicago and take part in a three-hour game the next day. The 49ers arranged for a private jet to take him to the Windy City, which Wishnowsky boarded at 2 a.m. Sunday after getting a few hours of sleep.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god, a private jet!'” he said. “But I basically got on the jet with eyes half-closed. … I’m like, ‘Where’s the best place to sleep?'”
The plane landed a little after 7 a.m. and Wishnowsky went to the team hotel to get some breakfast. He’d tried to eat some pineapple before the delivery, but it didn’t spend long in his stomach. Then it was on to the team bus and Soldier Field where kicker Joey Slye handled kickoffs and the 49ers’ offense relieved Wishnowsky of any punting duties.
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Wishnowsky served as the team’s holder, which he said he handled well save for on Slye’s longest field goal attempt. Wishnowsky said his hold had too much lean.
“That was the 52 yarder that Joey put through,” he said. “So he bailed me out.”
Then it was back to the Bay Area on the 49ers’ charter flight. The plane landed Sunday evening, at which point Wishnowsky went back to the hospital to rejoin Maddie. Then mom, dad and daughter went home the next morning.
Wishnowsky spoke Thursday with a backpack slung over his left shoulder. Inside was the game ball Shanahan had given his wife, which Wishnowsky planned to hand over that evening.
“It’s a Maddie and Bowie game ball,” he said. “Because I definitely don’t deserve it.”
Wishnowsky added: “If you want to throw it in there: The nurses at El Camino Hospital are pretty incredible. They didn’t give me any nausea medication, but they were great and they were great to Maddie.”
Odds & ends
• Receiver Deebo Samuel (calf), tackle Trent Williams (ankle) and running back Elijah Mitchell (ribs) were limited in Thursday’s practice after missing Wednesday’s session. Mitchell practiced in a blue, no-contact jersey.
• Tight end George Kittle noted there might be “a little bit of rust” after missing more than a month of practice, but he said he came through Thursday’s practice, the longest of the week for the 49ers, feeling good. Kittle remains on injured reserve but will be taken off in time for Sunday’s game as long as there are no hiccups with his calf injury.
“I miss football,” he said. “I haven’t hit anybody in a long time, and I’m very excited to be out there being able to do that again.”
• Defensive end Dee Ford was added to the injury report this week with a back issue, which seems ominous considering he missed nearly all of the 2020 season with a back injury. He was listed as limited after being a full participant Wednesday.
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• For the Cardinals, receiver DeAndre Hopkins (hamstring), quarterback Kyler Murray (ankle) and defensive end J.J. Watt (shoulder) were among those who missed Thursday’s session.
(Photo: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
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