Little Raelee Linn Welch, the Jewish Chronicle’s First Jewish Baby of 2014, came into this world a little earlier than planned. That’s perfectly fine with her proud parents Lori Lentenbrink and Adam Welch, who along with Raelee received a variety of gifts from Chronicle advertisers. (See complete list at the end of the story.)
It turns out new mom Lori experienced some complications during her pregnancy. Lori suffered from cholestasis, a common liver disease that only happens in pregnancy. According to the American Pregnancy Association, it normally goes away a few days after delivery.
“Before she was born they told me they needed to get her out by 37 weeks but then I went in for my 36-week appointment and they said you need to go to Menorah right now,” Lori said.
A Caesarean section was performed on Lori and Raelee was born at 7:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at Menorah Medical Center. She weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces and was 16 ½ inches long.
“It was a high-risk situation but she’s perfectly healthy,” Lori explained. While Raelee was several weeks early, she did not spend any time in the neonatal intensive care unit and went home from the hospital on Sunday per a normal schedule.
Following the high-risk pregnancy, Mom Lori said she is now doing really well. Doctors will continue to keep an eye on her liver enzymes to make sure they stay stable.
Dressed in pink for her Chronicle photo shoot, Dad Adam described Raelee’s hair as “brownish blond.” Mom Lori really wanted a pink bow in her hair for the photo, but it just wouldn’t stay. Neither parent is quite sure of Raelee’s eye color just yet.
“They are kind of dark. I don’t know if she’s going to have brown eyes or if she’s going to end up with blue eyes. They are like a navy right now,” Lori said.
Lori said she has light eyes. She could take after her maternal grandfather in Texas, Norman Lentenbrink, who has blue eyes. Or her daddy Adam who has brown eyes.
Lori and Adam put a lot of thought into their baby’s girls name and how it is spelled.
“My grandmother’s name was Rae, so we wanted to do something a little bit more modern. And Adam’s middle name is Lee and his dad’s middle name is Lee so we just put the names together.
“Her middle name is Linn. My mom’s middle name is Lynn and Adam’s mom’s name is Marilynn. Then my best friend Lindsey passed away in April and we put the spelling of Linn toward Lindsey’s name in honor of her. She’s definitely got a meaningful name,” Lori noted.
Raelee will share her parents with older sister Madalynn, who is Adam’s daughter from a previous relationship, and two dogs. The family lives in Lenexa.
“We’re definitely going to have a full house. It’s going to be an interesting endeavor,” Lori said.
Lori has lived in the area since 1997 and her family belongs to Congregation Beth Torah. She hopes to go back to work as a server sometime in the future. Adam works as a service crew leader at Gameroom Concepts, a new division of Seasonal Concepts that opened this fall in Overland Park. Lori and Adam are engaged and have been a couple for almost four years.
Coincidentally, a Jewish nurse, Leah Anton, R.N., was in the delivery room when Raelee was born. Anton is a labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum nurse and helped care for mother and baby that first night.
Raelee and her parents received the following gifts from Chronicle advertisers as the 2014 First Jewish Baby:
BRGR Kitchen + Bar — $25 gift card
Carmen’s Café Italian & Tapas — Baby’s first pasta meal
Cigar & Tabac, Ltd. — “It’s A Girl” cigars
Cosentino’s Price Chopper — $25 gift certificate
Craig Sole Designs — Bouquet of flowers
Eyestyle Optics —New pair of sunglasses for the new mom
French Market — Gift certificate
Gates Bar-B-Q — $25 gift certificate
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy — $500 gift certificate toward 2019-20 HBHA kindergarten tuition and HBHA “Future Ram” bib
Irish Crystal Co. — Reed & Barton Silver-plated Pull Duck Bank
Italian Gardens To Go — Gift basket
Johnson County Community College Performance Arts Series — two tickets to a spring 2014 show
Marilyn Arnold Designs — Baby’s first pillow
Nothing Bundt Cakes — First piece of Bundt cake
Riley’s Phillips 66 — $25 gift certificate
Sheridan’s Lattés & Frozen Custard – Gift certificate
The Tasteful Olive — $25 gift certificate
Weber Creative Arts — Free family photo shoot and two retouched 8 x 10 photo prints
