Six Stechers: Freshly Hatched

This past Sunday started innocently enough. We were still waiting for "Five" to arrive. We went to church, where at least five older ladies informed us they were praying for a boy for us. (This proved to be the most annoying aspect of this pregnancy. The assumption that we were only trying for a boy, and would be disappointed with another girl. It couldn't have been further from the truth. But, I digress.) We came home and let the girls go swimming in the hot tub,

and I happened to get one more photo of me pregnant! Who knew it would be on the last day of my pregnancy?

When the girls all went down for their naps, Mop and I headed out to the mall. We parked in the most distant parking spot we could find, and then proceeded to walk the mall from end to end. Despite all of the walking, I only felt a few mild contractions all day. It definitely wasn't looking good on the labor front. And, as much as I wanted to go into labor on my own this time, I was beginning to feel guilty that Mop was waiting...and waiting.

Thankfully, I didn't need to worry about keeping her waiting much longer. At 10:45pm that night, just after we had all gone to bed, Matt and I were up watching a new episode of "Breaking Bad," and I immediately started to contract every two minutes. It was kind of surreal. There's nothing like being in your pajamas and glasses, knowing you really should be getting your butt out of bed and getting dressed again. So, we waited until the end of the show just to make sure this was the real deal, and then began to get dressed, put contacts back in, and get the essentials in the car. The contractions really started to pick up in intensity, and by the time we arrived at the hospital a little after midnight, they were less than two minutes apart, and taking my breath away. I measured 4cm in the OB triage, so they allowed me to be admitted, but I had to be administered a four-hour round of antibiotics for testing positive for strep B, so they were hoping I wouldn't move too quickly. We were transported upstairs where the anesthesiologist performed an epidural just as things were getting even more uncomfortable. And, in an effort to wait things out, they decided to not break my water, and hope that I could relax and sleep for a few hours to get the full round of antibiotics. About five hours later, I really felt like the baby was coming, and in my first round of pushing, my water bag broke, shooting water in a huge rush across the room. It was very glamorous, let me tell you!!

Two more rounds of pushing was all we needed for Five to finally appear, at 7:27am, and she was a GIRL!! Even though I fully expected her to be a girl, I was still really surprised! Matt was shocked, since he'd started believing the baby to be a boy too. She was perfect! I had a chance to hold her for a few minutes and nurse her before the nurse weighed her. She seemed so tiny, but she weighed a very healthy 8 pounds, 7 ounces. (Somehow, Tessa and Annie each weighed nearly two pounds less than her!! And Megan and Bridget each weighed an even heftier 8 pounds, 10 ounces.)