Connor And Ellie Kenney Welcome Baby Girl Kenney To The World
I've had a month to think about how I was going to tell you one of the most insane and wonderful stories of my life. While I've had a month to think about what I was going to say, it's hard to know how to start this article. I can tell you though, this story has a happy ending.
If you're a listener, you know that I like to share a lot about my personal life. I like to be open and transparent and this time, it's no different. As you probably have noticed, I have been on and off the air for the past month. Well, there was a really good reason for it.
Spoiler Alert: Baby girl Kenney has arrived and she did so in dramatic fashion.
The past month of my wife, Ellie, and I's life has been crazy, really good crazy. It's no secret that we have been expecting our first child. We broke the news back in October of 2021 that Ellie was pregnant. We were stunned and overjoyed at all of the congratulations we received from listeners, family, and friends.
To reveal the gender of Baby Kenney, we held a diaper drive for people to guess the gender of Baby Kenney in November. You donated over 1,000 diapers for children in need. We found out that our little bundle of joy was going to be a girl!
Baby Girl Kenney's due date was April 5, 2022. Ellie and I had plans to get the house ready, finish up some projects, decorate her room, pack a bag, etc. While we got most of that done, our plans to finish up a few things were cut by about 6 weeks.
While most people were excited about 2/22/2022, Ellie and I had our 34-week appointment and planned to get ice cream afterward like we normally do. But when we went in for our appointment, we found out that Ellie had very high blood pressure and severe case of preeclampsia. Our doctor sent us to Genesis East and told us that baby girl Kenney could be coming very soon.
We went to the hospital and Ellie was admitted. It didn't take an hour when 4 doctors came into our room to inform us that we weren't leaving the hospital without our baby girl.
Ellie was induced and the labor process started Tuesday afternoon. Ellie labored actively for about 12 hours. Ellie is the toughest woman I know. She had a lot of stuff done to her because of her high blood pressure which isn't what normally happens when you're having a baby. But she powered through, stayed calm, and kicked butt while laboring.
What's even crazier, is Ellie's birthday is on February 24th. We had come to realize that she would be spending her birthday in the hospital. The only question was she going to share a birthday with our little girl or not. Well, Ellie wanted to make sure our daughter and she had their own birthday's to celebrate.
At 11 p.m., Ellie started to push. She had a clear view of the digital clock in the room. If she was to tell you this part, she would say,
"I was looking at the clock on the wall and I say that I had 1 hour until it was my birthday. I knew I had 60 minutes to push and get her out before midnight and I was determined to do so!"
At 11:30 p.m., 30 minutes before her birthday, Caelyn Ann Kenney was born.
Ellie got to hold her for 60 seconds after she was born before the NICU doctors had to take her. She came out crying, breathing, and a tiny little peanut. Caelyn’s weight was 4lbs 5oz when she was born. The most beautiful baby girl in the world was here.
The doctors took Caelyn to the NICU where she would spend the next 2 and a half weeks. We were discharged on Sunday, March 13th with both Caelyn and Ellie doing awesome. We are home now sleeping (barely), crying, having tummy time, watching the NCAA tournament, and Friends.
I want to thank all of the incredible doctors, nurses, and staff at Genesis East in Davenport. They were kind, compassionate, extremely helpful, caring, and every other word that describes these incredible people. There are so many names I will never forget that work at Genesis East that took care of my two girls. I am indebted to them and will never be able to repay them for everything they did for us.
I want to also thank Ellie and I's family and friends for the support and for helping us during this past month. They brought us food, hung cabinet doors, cleaned, and were just so helpful. We love you all!
Caelyn, welcome to this crazy world! Like your dad, you came into this world in a dramatic fashion. Whether that's genes or karma, I'm just happy you are here and healthy. You were wrapped around my finder before you came into this world, but now that you're here, that is more true than ever. I thought I couldn't love anything more than your mom, but now that you're here, my heart has doubled in size with love. I love you, Caelyn.
Ellie, you are the most beautiful, strongest, caring, and amazing woman, wife, and mother. Watching you go through what you went through was one of the hardest things I had to watch, especially knowing there really wasn't anything I could do. You gave us a perfect, beautiful daughter and the greatest gift of our lives. I promise to take care of you and our daughter. I can't thank you enough for being my wife and the mother of my child. You have no idea the amount of love I have for you and how much that grows every single day. I love you so much, Ellie.
I know a lot of you came for the pictures and it's time to see our beautiful baby girl, Caelyn. Here are just a few of thousands of photos taken over the past month.
Welcome to the world, Caelyn!