Parents, baby all born at Advocate Condell Medical Center
Juli Polnau was late to class. It was the first day of freshman year at College of Lake County and she realized she was in the wrong classroom. By the time she arrived to the correct one, Intro to Psychology had already started so she quickly found an empty seat and sat down. Nick Blanchard, who had arrived on time, noticed the cute girl enter the room and told himself he was going to gather up the courage to talk to her.
After walking laps around the building after their first test, Blanchard "accidentally" ran into her, and in the following weeks, found a way to walk with her after class. They began dating shortly after.
One day, Blanchard noticed something odd - his and Polnau's social security numbers were shockingly similar with only one different number. They learned that they were born only three days apart at the same hospital, Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, in July in 1997. Polnau's mother stayed in the hospital a few extra days because of her C-section, so it was likely that both babies and their mothers were in the same hospital at the same time, complete unaware of the other.
"When we told our moms they thought it was crazy," Polnau said. "They didn't know. They used the same OBs through Condell so they probably ran into each other at their doctors appointments."
When Polnau found out she was pregnant, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have their baby at Condell, too.
"I knew we'd go to Condell because I'm familiar with the hospital," Polnau said. "My mom had a good experience with them and Nick's mom had a good experience with them. I didn't think about going anywhere else."
On March 30, Polnau and Blanchard welcomed their daughter into the world at Advocate Condell Medical Center. Dr. Maja Middleton delivered the newborn and is part of the same practice, OB/Gyne Associates of Libertyville, with Dr. Eileen Morrison, who delivered Blanchard, and Dr. Adriana Spellman, who delivered Polnau.
"It's such a unique, happy story," Dr. Morrison said. "It ties our practice together, our community together and shows the longevity and continuity of our practice."
"We have a lot of patients whom we delivered when they were a baby because the group has been around for a long time," added Dr. Middleton. "Our patients trust us. We have a well-established reputation for providing excellent care and it shows when people come back to the group when they need care delivering their own baby."
This was Polnau's first Mother's Day with her first baby, but she and Blanchard are already thinking about their future kids.
"Being a mom still feels so new to me, but we're having a lot of fun and she's a great baby," Polnau said. "We'll be back to Condell when we decide to have our next one."