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Parents of Middletown's second 2012 baby didn’t expect a child

Ellen Deems, 20, of Gratis, holds her son, Lane Owen Deems, who was born at 2:14 p.m. Monday, becoming the second baby born this year at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown. Lane’s father, George Deems, 24, is pictured on the left.

Rick McCrabb Ellen Deems, 20, of Gratis, holds her son, Lane Owen Deems, who was born at 2:14 p.m. Monday, becoming the second baby born this year at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown. Lane’s father, George Deems, 24, is pictured on the left.

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By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer Updated 9:31 AM Tuesday, January 3, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — The average ride in the horse ring for Ellen Deems lasts 15.9 seconds. Compared to that, becoming a mother must have seemed like an eternity.

On Monday, after being in Atrium Medical Center for 14 hours — including three hours of intense labor — Deems delivered her son, Lane Owen Deems, the second baby born this year in Middletown. He weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19 1/2 inches long.

The mother of the first baby born in 2012 didn’t want to be interviewed, hospital officials said.

Deems, 20, a 2009 Preble Shawnee High School graduate, is a world-class rider in the National Barrel Horse Association. She has won two world championships, six national titles and eight district crowns.

Now she can add motherhood to that resume. She called riding a horse competitively “way easier” than having a baby.

Ellen and her husband of nearly three years, George, never expected to become parents. George Deems, 24, a 2005 Edgewood High School graduate, had a son from a previous relationship, and he said several hernia surgeries had left him sterile.

Ellen said she figured ovarian surgeries would keep her from becoming pregnant.

George called becoming a father: “God’s way of making fun of scientists.”

Their son is named after Lane Frost, a famous bull rider who died in 1989, two years before Ellen was born.

The couple was rooting for Lane to be born on New Year’s day. George was born on 03-03 and his first son, Hayden Wilson, was born on 02-02.

Instead of 01-01, Lane was born on 01-02-12.

“It was close,” his mother said.

But since her success is measured in seconds, Ellen could wait one more day.

She called motherhood: “What I wanted more than anything in the world.”

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