introducing: Bergen Colleen Ellingson

Bergen's birth story and name:

As with my first pregnancy, I was measuring small throughout. I knew to expect it this time and even though the Dr.'s were a little concerned that I only gained 10 lbs, everything was healthy and normal with baby.  I went in for a few ultra-sounds, non-stress-tests at the end of my pregnancy and things were looking great and baby was measuring about 6 lb 5 oz, which is what Charley was when she was born. I went in for a Dr. apt Wednesday morning and was dilated to 3 cm. Dr. said everything looked great and so Charley and I carried on our day as usual. My OB is in SoHo so we stopped at the Cronut place on our way home and had second breakfast.

Then we rode the subway home and went to the playground. I had been feeling some tightness throughout the day, but nothing too painful. That night, Charley helped me make dinner and water the plants. I told Spencer that I was feeling some contractions but they weren't painful and wasn't really sure what an actual contraction felt like since I was induced with Charley. I called my sister Sarah up and asked her a few questions. She explained what a real contraction would feel like and that I would definitely know. 

 Week 39

Thursday morning at around 6am I woke up with a stronger contraction like a period cramp. I timed them and they were about 10 minutes apart. At 6:40am I woke up Spencer and told him I was having some contractions that didn't hurt too bad, but were stronger than I had felt before. He jokingly said, "Mads, let's wait till 7:00 to wake me up".. :) We both started laughing and laid in bed for a while until we decided we should probably get going. I went to the bathroom and was definitely leaking fluid like my water was slowly breaking. I am so grateful this happened and my water had broke because it really got us going faster, which ended up being what we needed to do. Charley woke up at 7am and we got her bag ready to go to her friends house and left just after 7am. By this point, the contractions were every 5 minutes and getting pretty hard. I was nervous they would all the sudden stop and we would have to go home, but they were coming strong! We dropped Charley off at my friend Laura's house (who has a boy Charley's age) and started for the hospital. On the way there, I called the Dr. on-call at my OB office and told her I was having contractions and thought my water had broke. This again was a blessing because I could tell she didn't think I was in labor but since I thought my water had broke, I needed to come in. She totally didn't believe me! So we continued to the hospital (even though we were already heading there). It was about 7:40am and any bump Spencer hit on the road hurt so bad! Contractions were coming on stronger and were about 4 minutes apart. We got to the hospital and parked and had to walk a little ways to get to the front entrance. Spencer was trying to walk fast and pulling me along but every contraction I had to stop and hold on to him! They were hurting so bad. We checked in really fast, they got me to the pre-labor room where they hooked me up and made sure I was in labor. They were pretty skeptical at first which was funny to Spencer and I. They must get a lot of people who are in false labor because they took their sweet time checking me and getting me into a room. We waited there for about an hour and contractions started getting worse and worse and closer and closer together. When the nurse finally did come check me and could tell I was in so much pain, so was surprised I was already 6 cm. She kept saying, "Oh honey, lets get you to your room", and under her breath to other nurses, "it's her second, let's go!" After they realized I was in full-on labor and it was my second child AND I was not faking the pain of every contraction, everything moved much faster. I told them I wanted an epidural and once I got into my other room I was already to 8cm! They told me I would pretty much get the epidural and then have the baby. I was fine with that but I just needed something to take the edge off. I was in so much pain and it was really hard for me to 'breath' through each contraction like they tell you. It was about 9:30am at this point and they got me an epidural. I told the nurse I really felt like I needed to go #2. She kind of laughed and told me that was the baby, not poo! The epidural didn't kick in for about 15 more minutes and my contractions were every 2 minutes consistently. I told them again I needed to push something out and she told me that the Dr. was on her way. By 10am my epidural had kicked in just enough so that I still felt a little pain and pressure down there but could still feel my legs and everything else. It was heaven! My Dr. still wasn't there yet (remember how she didn't think I was going to have the baby this quick) and the nurse told me to try to not push... which was impossible. My body really wanted to push. I yelled again, "I just want to go poo!" Spencer and my nurse were kind of laughing, kind of scared that my Dr. wasn't here yet and kind of wondering what to do. With each contraction I had that urge to push and had to try not to. My Dr. finally arrived and I pushed for about 30 minutes until baby was born at 10:37 am! I loved my nurse who helped me from start to finish! Everything worked out so well and I didn't even tear! I was so happy about that. They weighed baby and then quickly gave her to me to do skin to skin. I didn't think she looked like Charley when she was first born, but after they bathed her, I felt they looked just like each other! I tried to nurse right away and it was amazing how quickly she found the boob and started sucking the hardest suck ever! Birth is just a miracle! 

Charley loving life at my friend Laura's house while we were at the hospital

We made it up to the recovery floor and Spencer and I were still not sure what to name our baby. We were trying to decide between Brooklyn and Bergen. We liked both and so we did rock-paper-scissors a few times to figure it out. I was leaning toward Bergen since it wasn't as popular of a name, even though I really liked Brooklyn too. I also really liked that it was part of Spencer's middle name. The first day we were there I wanted Brooklyn and so did Spencer and then the next day when Spencer came back to the hospital with Charley, I told him I liked Bergen better! :) It was a really hard decision. In the end we decided on Bergen and I love it! 

Her name: Bergen is the street we live on here in Brooklyn and it's also a feminine version of Spencer's middle name, Berg, who was his Great-Grandfather. I love that she has some of her Daddy's name and a part of Brooklyn with her forever. Her middle name is Colleen, which is Spencer's Grandma's name whom we just adore! She is the sweetest, funniest and happiest lady. She really is so upbeat and positive and very lovable. (Spencer is also her favorite grandchild, but that's a secret! :) 

Meeting her sister for the first time! 

Leaving the hospital: Spencer was such a champ to come back and forth (an hour subway ride) to Manhattan where our hospital at NYU is. He couldn't stay at the hospital with me since the rooms are tiny and you share with another person that just had a baby too. They also wanted to keep Bergen and I there for at least 48 hours since I was Group-B strep positive and wasn't able to get all the dosage of the antibiotic when she was born since she came so fast. Spencer came back and forth with Charley a few times which was fun for Charley to meet and see baby sister! She loved seeing her baby and holding her! It was the cutest thing the first time she saw her and had a huge smile on her face. After we were discharged, we dressed Bergen in a leaving-the-hospital outfit (which is a newborn size and still way too big!) and went to the entrance of the hospital where Charley, Bergen and I waited while Spencer went and got the car. Charley, being the dare-devil that she is, was climbing up on some chairs and jumping down from them. Well I turned my head for a second and she fell off the back of the chair and ripped some skin off her finger pretty bad. She was crying and I thought she had broken her arm! I couldn't leave or do anything since we had Bergen too and Spencer wasn't back yet, so I just sat with her, her finger bleeding and her screaming until Spencer came. I thought maybe she needed stitches or something, but after Spencer looked at it, he said she should be fine and it wasn't too deep... so we loaded both kids for the first time and left! In all the chaos of leaving we didn't get a picture like I wanted to in front of the hospital but we made it home safe and sound! 

 Little girl. Big bed.

My friend has already been a lifesaver and has came and got Charley to play at their apartment which is just downstairs. Charley loves their backyard patio and their dog. She also took them to get donuts which Charley loved! 

 Bergen's little corner nursery is perfect! We moved out Spencer's desk since he got a workspace a few buildings away from us and turned this corner into Bergen's nursery. My friend got me the cutest bassinet for Bergen and we rearranged our room to fit our rocking chair and changing table. It's been nice to have everything I need at night right there in our room.