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Mom, daughter give birth six hours apart

When Jessica Rotter's 17-year-old daughter, Briana Guerrero, revealed she was pregnant, Rotter stayed calm.

A week later, the 35-year-old Elgin mother of three found out that she, too, was pregnant.

“I cried,” said Rotter from her hospital bed at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, where she and Briana gave birth almost six hours apart early Wednesday morning to a couple of healthy boys.

“It's kind of overwhelming and uncanny at the same time. But now it's over and everyone's happy and healthy. And that's all that matters.”

Rotter's son was born at 12:53 a.m. weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and measuring 20 inches long. Rotter said she and her husband haven't yet chosen a name, since he was 2½ weeks early.

He doesn't know it, but he's an uncle. Briana's son, Ayden, was born at 6:52 a.m. weighing 9 pounds, 9 ounces, and measuring 21 inches.

While Rotter's baby was planned, Briana's was not.

Both women had the same obstetrician-gynecologist, Alex Lipowich, who also delivered both babies Wednesday. As their pregnancies progressed, mother and daughter would at times have back-to-back checkup appointments.

Ayden was a big baby, so doctors decided to induce labor Monday night. Rotter went home that night and returned Tuesday morning to be with her daughter during delivery, but by late afternoon her own contractions started.

“I thought it was sympathy pains at first,” Rotter said. “Of course, I was crying. I was upset because I couldn't be with her. We were in the room next to each other. I could hear her and she could hear me.”

Rotter said her 16-year-old daughter, Kassandra, and Briana's boyfriend and the baby's father, Jose Botello, were with her in the delivery room.

“She was a trouper, and the doctor said she did a great job,” she added.

Rotter is proud of how Briana handled her studies through pregnancy and graduated Dec. 19 from Burlington Central High School. Briana and Ayden plan to move in with Rotter's mother in Elk Grove Village.

Mother and daughter will be released from the hospital with their new bundles of joy Thursday.

“Being a grandma and being a new mom at the same time, I won't get as much time with my grandson because I'm going to be too busy with my own kid,” Rotter said. “I'll still get to see him. But it won't be the same.”

As for the uncle and nephew, “they'll be best friends,” Rotter said.

  Ayden Botello, left, naps next to his uncle. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Dr. Alex Lipowich delivered two healthy boys to a mother and daughter on the same day. Briana Guerrero, left, holds her baby, Ayden Botello, and her mom Jessica Rotter holds her yet-to-be-named son. photos by JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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