Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How About A Baby Announcement?

Just thought we should mention that we recently welcomed a new member of the family.

On Friday the 14th at 5:57pm, Clara Kenley Petersik was born with a paint brush in her hand weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. We’re insanely in love with her. And she and Burger are already best buddies. Seriously, he thinks it’s his job to stand guard next to her at all times.

Clara And Burger2

Clara was named after John’s grandmother on his dad’s side. And her middle name, Kenley, is an homage to my dad (Ken) with John’s mom’s maiden name worked in there (Kelley) along with a reference to my great aunt on my mom’s side named Lee. Gotta love rooms and names that multitask.

We’re all home from the hospital and happily settling back into life here at Casa Petersik (there’s nothing like a four day hospital stint to make you miss your house like crazy). Yes, we actually had an extended stay due to a pretty terrifying scare during Clara’s birth (an unexpected placental abruption paired with an umbilical cord prolapse had a slew of wonderful doctors and nurses performing an emergency c-section in under three minutes to ensure that Clara was a-ok). But although her delivery was anything but restful, we’re both over the moon that she’s 100% healthy and 1000% adorable (not that we’re biased or anything).

Clara Emergency Room

And now that we’re all back home, Clara really seems to be enjoying her new surroundings. In short: we feel like two of the luckiest people in the world. And we’re so thankful to be able to share this amazing time in our lives with such wonderful readers. Thank you all for the well wishes that you’ve passed along throughout our big journey to parenthood. We can’t wait to detail all the ways that our house grows and changes to accommodate a little person and we promise to share all the organization, storage, and simple living tips that we pick up along the way (while tackling even more DIY adventures and cheap-o room makeovers of course).

Clara Little Feet

But now back to our regularly scheduled blogging. We have an awesome house tour to share, so stay tuned…

Psst- We’ll also be announcing the random winner of the big baby pool (and a $100 West Elm gift card) tomorrow, so stick around.

Comments

  2. Beth says

    Awww you guys!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Such awesome news on this dreary Tuesday. Wishing you a speedy recovery Sherry!!

    Clara is beautiful!! And Burger is still handsome as ever. Thanks for sharing with your readers and congrats again!!!
    Blessings!

    Reply

  4. mary b says

    AW YAY! i woke up my fiancee (checking the laptop in bed) by screaming OMG! he was not pleased…but then i flashed him the picture of clara and he couldnt help but smile :) will you be writing a birth story like ABP? i do hope so

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Mary B,

      We like to keep things pretty home focused over here on YHL, so while we plan to share how we tackle baby clutter and how our home evolves to work with our growing family, the whole birth story can be summarized right here for you:

      I noticed on Friday morning that I was having some pretty intense contractions and by the time I started timing them they were four minutes apart. I called John who was out to lunch with all of his advertising coworkers to celebrate his last day and told him to get home fast! By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were already two minutes apart and they sent me straight into labor and delivery. As we waited for the doctor to arrive and check my progress (I was already 3.5 cms dilated and 80% effaced at my last appointment) my water broke in the hospital bed- but instead of being clear it was bright red. So much blood. Very scary.

      Immediately the room filled with frenzied nurses and doctors and they explained that I was having a placental abruption, which happens when the placenta inexplicably detaches from the uterine wall before the baby is born. This is extremely dangerous for the baby (since they get their oxygen/nourishment from the placenta) and the mother can hemorrhage so it’s a pretty dire situation all around. Within about a minute they had me in the OR and within three minutes they had my sweet baby out thanks to an emergency c-section. They saved her life by acting so fast.

      Once they got in there they saw that not only was she in distress from the placental abruption, but the umbilical cord had somehow gotten pinched below her head when my water broke so she was struggling to get oxygen from that as well. Basically it was the scariest day of our life, but we are SO THANKFUL that the doctors and nurses worked so quickly to come to our rescue. We feel so blessed to be home together enjoying each others company! And John even got to be in the OR (in full body scrubs of course) since they worked fast enough to be sure he was there to hold my hand. Thank goodness. I couldn’t have done it without him.

      The recovery is cake compared to the scare she gave us. We’re practically floating on air because other nurses and doctors in the hospital dropped in to see us for days just to tell us how lucky we were (they heard our story and were so glad that it had a happy ending). But no one is more glad than we are! So that’s the story of the scariest/best day of our lives. Whew.

      xo,
      s

  5. Janelle says

    So, so, so precious! I just love baby girls :) I had this funny feeling every time I read your blog the past few days that there was something going on over there!! Congratulations on your beautiful, healthy babe!!

    Reply

  9. Elizabeth says

    She’s so cute!!! CONGRATS!!! That onsie with the heart is precious and makes that picture pop with color. Congrats again :)

    Reply

  10. Stacy says

    CONGRATULATIONS!!! My jaw literally dropped when I saw this post…definitely wasn’t expecting it for a few more weeks! I’m so happy for you guys and can’t wait to hear/see more of your adorable baby girl. By the way, did you know that “clara” means clear or light in Spanish?…very fitting considering your decor style! Thanks for sharing so many pictures…my faves are the one of burger protecting his little sister and the family photo taken at birth…so sweet!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Stacy,

      We did know Clara had a latin root in “clear” but never really made the connection to how it fit our decor style. How cool! Thanks for pointing out the obvious (even though it apparently wasn’t obvious to us). We love the name even more now!

      -John

  16. Jessica says

    My eyes welled up with tears when I read the post this morning, what a beautiful family! Thank you for sharing this with us readers!

    Reply

  19. Mary Anne says

    So glad mama and that beautiful, alert little baby girl are home and well! Blessings from Wisconsin!

    Reply

  26. Lindsey D. says

    Congratulations! How wonderful and she is just precious! Can’t wait to here of all the adventures with Clara! God bless.

    Reply

  27. Allison says

    Congratulations Mama and Papa Petersik!! Clara is absolutely beautiful. I’m so happy for your new family. Lots of love!!!!

    Reply

  30. Christin says

    Congratulations! Praise the Lord of the safety and health of all during the delivery. You have a beautiful little girl! Best of luck as you move forward!

    Reply

  34. Amy says

    She’s beautiful! I was just thinking about you guys, wondering if she joined your family :) Congratulations! I can’t wait to keep reading your blog and seeing more beautiful baby pictures!

    Reply

  36. Jennifer Williams says

    Oh guys she is truly beautiful!!! I guessed May 14th in the pool, so I hope I win!!! Get ready for the best friend you’ve ever had. Parenthood is a blast of wonder every day and it goes by sooo fast. I have a 2-year old son Nash, and he was the best decision I ever made!! Good luck to the 4 of you :)

    Reply

  38. Clare says

    Congratulations! What a beautiful little girl!
    Not that I’m biased, but I love the name choice – I was named after my grandpa (Clarence) and my great-grandma (Clara).

    Reply

  39. janet says

    congratulations on your bundle of joy!!!! She’s beautiful and the name is too. i’m glad you and the baby are healthy and well!!!!

    Reply

  45. K says

    Congratulations! She is gorgeous and I love her name. Glad to hear you are all doing well after what sounds like a scary delivery.

    Reply

  48. RLB says

    Congratulations Sherry and John! Clara is a beautiful baby and she has a terrific name. Burger — good boy! Clara looks great in all those juiced-primary colors.

    Reply

  50. Laura J says

    Congratulations!!! She’s beautiful (but you knew that)!!! You are so sneaky. No one was the wiser that she’d already been born. You’re amazing – you guys never miss a beat! I will be keeping you all in my thoughts as Sherry heals from the surgery and as you all enjoy your new life as a (bigger) family. Congrats again!

    Reply

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