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Jessica Ellinger, of Yorkville,
with daughter Graceylyn
Marie, who was born January
2 at Edward Hospital. |
"I was like, ‘oh my god, this is my girl."
After giving birth to two healthy boys, Yorkville resident Jessica Ellinger, 29, had just learned she was having a girl. She was about five months pregnant when her OB/GYN discovered Ellinger was already dilated 2 centimeters. The perinatologist on call at the closest hospital was Donald Taylor, DO, who told her she could go on bed rest and undergo a cerclage, a surgical procedure to close the cervix - or risk losing the baby.
"I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is my girl,'" Ellinger said. "I thought, go ahead with the surgery. So he did the cerclage and everything worked out perfect."
Complicating matters, Ellinger was still seeing an OB/GYN in Hoffman Estates from the time she had lived in Bartlett. She also was seeing Dr. Taylor in Hoffman Estates, but he noticed her Yorkville address.
"I asked, ‘Why are you coming all the way up here?' ... She said it was hard to find perinatologists," said Dr. Taylor, medical director of perinatology at Edward Hospital.
Dr. Taylor helped her find a general OB/GYN closer to home, and he started seeing her at his office on the Edward Hospital campus in Naperville. The difference was a 10- or 15-minute trip to the doctor instead of a one- or two-hour trip. Now there's a perinatology center even closer to home.
Edward Hospital has opened a Maternal Fetal Medicine Center in Yorkville to help accommodate high-risk pregnancy patients. The center opened in January at 76 W. Countryside Parkway in Yorkville. Board-certified perinatologists provide services on Edward's Naperville and Plainfield campuses and once a week at the Yorkville location.
"Maternal fetal medicine is very specialized," said Pat Bradley, director of Edward Hospital obstetrics. "This is the high-risk pregnancy team."
Services include chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, first trimester screening, fetal echocardiography, detailed fetal ultrasound screening and consultation for any maternal or fetal problems. A genetic counselor and perinatal sonographers also are on staff, Bradley said.
Ellinger stayed on bed rest until doctors removed her cerclage about four weeks before her due date. Dr. Thomas Carver, OB/GYN with Terrace Obstetricians and Gynecology, delivered Gracelyn Marie on January 2 at Edward. He said this case shows the importance of routine prenatal care.
"Simple as that," he said. "If she didn't show up for care, this probably would have been found at a time when she was so dilated, she would either deliver a non-vital or very premature baby who would need intensive care and medical treatment months and maybe years afterward."
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