Lauren Claire Ellis has Arrived

With much anticipation, we welcomed Lauren Claire Ellis on June 20, 2014 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center. She made her grand entrance at 4:14 am. She weighed 8 pounds and 14.5 ounces and measured 19 3/4 inches.  Celebrating her arrival, was big sister Lydia! 

Preparing for Lauren's arrival included just the basics as we chose not to learn her gender prior to delivery. We selected both a boys name and a girls name and kept the nursery neutral until we met Lauren. Big sister prayed for a baby sister daily. We had pictures taken by Kacey Bohanan Photography to capture our time as a family of three as we awaited our new addition.

On June 19th, I was feeling great, albeit was 5 days past my due date and ready to meet our precious baby. I had a doctor's appointment earlier that morning and was measuring at 3cm dialated. Due to me being past my due date, we set an induction time of June 20th at 1pm. I was relieved to have an end in sight. 

That evening, we elected to go run errands and grab dinner at Hy-Vee. We needed milk and yogurt and I splurged on another container of edible cookie dough (you can't deny a pregnant lady that!)  During our grocery shopping trip I began to feel some sharp contractions, but didn't think much of it as I had felt them previously. Gary and Denise had already planned on coming to Peoria that evening to be with Lydia as we prepared for induction the following day. When we returned home from shopping, I chose to take a warm bath in the whirlpool tub. The jets and warm water subsided my contractions and I felt great! 

From 9-10pm, the contractions continued to come as a storm also began. The Ellises arrived and my contractions were 4-6 minutes apart and started to require me to stop, breathe, and change positions to get comfortable. I texted Shelly to determine when I should leave for the hospital as I still didn't believe I was actually in labor. At 10:30pm, I made the decision to to go the hospital as the contractions and pain were increasing. As we loaded up the car,we were able to snap one more family picture as a family of three and my belly at 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

We checked into OSF around 10:45pm on June 19th and made our way to triage so that doctors could determine if they needed to admit me. At this point my contractions were strong and I knew the answer would be yes. I was dialated to 5cm and ready for an epidural to help ease the pain. The admitted me and I was in a delivery room by 11:15pm. I had a wonderful labor and delivery experience that was precipitated by our nurse, Kelly. She was amazing. Despite all the pain and emotion that goes into delivering a baby, she remained compassionate, attentive and wonderful through the whole thing. She was able to ease my pain prior to being able to receive an epidural and continuously comforted me as best as she could. Once the epidural was in place, my pain was manageable and I waited to dialate the last 5 centimeters. 

Doctor Birkholz was on call that evening and came into the room at 4am and examined me. At that time, she felt it would be a good time to start pushing. I didn't feel the urge to do so at that time, but once they got the room in order and got the nursing staff for the baby in the room, they asked me to push through my next contraction. I did so and the baby began crowning on the first push. With one more push, the baby was out and Brett was thrilled to announce that we had our second baby girl! 

Lauren was immediately placed in my arms and I was instantly in love. It was hard not to notice her dark thick hair and dimples. She was perfection. She scored a 9 on the apgar scale, gave off some strong cries, and impressed the nurses with her weight and strength. I was relieved to have her same and in our arms.

 A highlight of Lauren's arrival, was introducing her to Lydia. Lydia was beaming as a proud big sister.She lit up when she learned that she had a baby sister and was comforting and consoling to her when she cried. She gently kissed Lauren and affectionately reminded her that "big sister, Lydia" was right beside her. It melted my heart.

As ecstatic as we were that Lauren was here, we hit some bumps in the road. She remained healthy, but had higher levels of bilirubin thanks to an A/O blood compatibility between mom and baby. This required some time in light therapy and additional blood tests to bring her levels down. The treatment was successful and we were discharged one day later than expected to ensure her health.

In addition to Lauren's need for additional attention, I spiked a fever of 102.3 on the second evening in the hospital. A battery of x-rays, blood and urine tests were called for that scared me into thinking the worst. Motrin and Tylenol brought relief to the fever and chills and all tests came back negative. It was determined that I had a reaction to one of the vaccines I elected to receive in the hospital. Because of my fever, I was also required to stay an extra day. In the long run, this was a benefit as I was able to stay with Lauren as she received additional light therapy. 

On June 23rd, we were cleared to by discharged and go home! Finally! We were thankful for our nurses and doctors at OSF, but relieved that we would finally get to start our life as a family of four at home!