Two Aberdeen families celebrated new arrivals on a day that only comes around once every four years.
Ian and Jasmine Coughlin welcomed Wrenleigh at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital. About 90 minutes later, Ileysha Mary Spinosa and Waly Polanco Linarez met their daughter Sophia at Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center.
Both girls were expected to be born in March — Wrenleigh on the 10th and Sophia on the 14th. As it turned out, most of the excitement for both families was on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
As Ian put it, his daughter decided to leap into the day — and quickly at that, as the final stages of labor advanced in minutes. One push later, Wrenleigh was born.
The on-call doctor had arrived at the Women’s Center shortly before Wrenleigh was born, Ian said.
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He said he and his wife had a little bit of a heads-up the day prior when his wife went to the doctor for testing. Then, Jasmine’s water broke around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28.
Ian is a postal carrier and his wife works at Agtegra. Wrenleigh is their second daughter after big sister Annaliese.
For Ileysha, the excitement started about 24 hours prior to her daughter’s birth. That, she said, is when she felt her water break, though she didn’t rush to the hospital immediately. A first-time mom, Ileysha said she opted to wait until her doctor appointment, which was scheduled for 9 a.m. Her physician then made the decision it was time for delivery, though that didn’t happen for 14 hours.
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“I thought I’d have her yesterday afternoon,” Ileysha said Thursday, Feb. 29.
A Central High School graduate, Waly works at DemKota Ranch Beef.