Your cart is currently empty!
We Didn’t Plan It This Way
I wasn’t sure I was ready for another baby so soon, but the doctor wasn’t kidding when they said you’re super fertile after giving birth. 😅 Evie was only three months old when I got another positive pregnancy test. Cue panic. Cue excitement. Cue: how the hell are we doing this again?!
At the confirmation appointment, there it was — a tiny heartbeat flickering away. 💓 That heartbeat belonged to Arabella… or as we all call her, Ellie.
A Chaotic Pregnancy
Ellie was an easy, breezy pregnancy for the most part — until the third trimester came around and everything got a little chaotic. 🌀 There were concerns about her weight. At one point, they thought she might have a clubfoot. And she just couldn’t seem to settle in one position. One visit she was breech, the next she was head down, and then she went transverse. 🔁
The doctors talked about doing an external cephalic version (ECV)—a procedure where doctors try to manually turn the baby into a head-down position by applying pressure to the mother’s belly. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the success rate can vary, and while generally safe, it’s not always comfortable and doesn’t always work.
Ultimately, we decided on a C-section instead. I just wanted her here, and I wanted her here safely. 🏥
A Birth Written in Stars
We scheduled the surgery for the very next morning. Apparently, half of Lansing had the same idea — the hospital was so busy I ended up in overflow. 😬 Then came the epidural: three different people tried before they finally got it right. 💉 Not going to lie — that was the worst part of the entire experience.
But once we were in, things moved fast. ⚡ She was out before I even had time to panic. And it turned out we made the right call — her umbilical cord was wrapped around her head four times. 😳 Had we waited, it could’ve been a very different outcome.
My husband caught a photo of my face the moment I saw her — and it really was love at first sight. 🥹 After everything I’d been through physically and emotionally, I made the decision to have my tubes removed during the surgery. I knew she was our last. ✂️
The Name Game
Naming her took some back-and-forth. I’d always loved the names Eleanor and Eleanora — they were on my list from years ago, before this marriage, back when I still thought I knew what my future looked like. ✨ But my husband wasn’t on board. I wanted something elegant to go with Genevieve, something that could be shortened to Ellie. 👑
I floated options like Elodie and Ellowen, but none of them stuck.
Then one night, we were curled up in bed. 🛏️ He was playing Baldur’s Gate 🎮 and came across a character named Arabella. We looked at each other, and it just clicked. That was her name. Arabella. Our Ellie. 🌙
The Universe Had Plans
Fun fact: My mom always had a strange fondness for the date June 28th. She never really knew why—just said it felt important, like she had a connection to it. She used to joke that it would probably end up being her death day. 💀
But the universe had other plans. Instead, it became the day her second granddaughter came into the world. Like Ellie was written into the stars all along—turning a date of mystery into a date of joy. 💖
Irish Twins
Evie and Ellie are eleven months apart — what’s affectionately known as Irish twins, a term used when siblings are born less than a year apart. 👯♀️ Evie may have lost her fraternal twin early in my first pregnancy, but she gained a partner-in-crime. A built-in best friend. 💕
Completed Magic
And as wild as it’s been having two babies in one year, I wouldn’t change a thing. 🍼 Ellie completed something in us we didn’t even know was missing. 💫
Lyrics written by me and protected under copyright. Please do not copy, reproduce, or distribute without permission. 🖋️✨
References
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2020). External cephalic version (ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 221). Obstetrics & Gynecology, 136(3), e203–e212. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000004076
Leave a Reply