Shannon's Story

After hitting my due date, I made a list of things I had not done yet. I figured that the more things I crossed off my list, the quicker my baby would arrive. At the bottom of my list was "pregnant belly pictures." I love seeing other people's pregnant tummies, but I am not a fan of modeling my tummy for the camera. However, at 6 days past my due date, I was willing to try anything--even a belly photo shoot.

We went up to some hills by our house at sunset and had fun playing around with the settings on our camera to get some silhouette shots. 

Tyler with the kids

 A belly shot with my pony tail whipping around in the wind...

Tyler set up the camera with a timer and got this one of the family (and my ponytail going bonkers in the wind again)

Airborne Annie

Cheesy Lovebirds

Whitney asked us to make a heart, and this is the best we could do...

...kind of turned out like swan heads, but oh well!

After power walking through those hills, we thought for sure the baby would come... but nope! The next day (7 days late) we went back to the hills again and power walked even longer, harder, and farther than the night before. Still no baby. I did 5 loads of laundry, and then finally decided to do the last thing on my list... pack the hospital bag!

The morning of Sunday, October 3rd (8 days past my due date!) I woke up having some contractions. They were mild and irregular--coming about 4-10 minutes apart. After getting showered and eating breakfast, Tyler convinced me to call the hospital and tell them we were on our way. We dropped the kids off with my sweet sister around 9am and made our way to the hospital. 

I was at a "4" and the nurse told me I could either stay there or go home. We opted to stay at the hospital and get this show on the road. Here's how the rest of the day unfolded:

10:30am--officially admitted to the hospital

12:15pm--broke my water

3:15pm--Progressed to 5-6cm while watching Discovery Channel and learning about black-tipped reef sharks

5:15pm--The nurse said I was still about 5-6cm dilated, so she said she'd give me a pinch of pitocin to "get things moving"

5:50pm--contractions were coming much stronger and I said, "Forget this! Get me an epidural." But the nurse said the baby was too far down and I probably wouldn't be able to sit up for an epidural. She suggested I could take fentanyl "to take the edge off".

6:00pm--Fentanyl helped me feel a little bit relaxed during my contractions

6:25pm--I told Tyler to get the nurse because I felt like the baby was coming. Nurses and the midwife run into the room and help me get ready to push the baby out.

6:35pm--After 2 1/2 pushes, we have a 4th baby!! Tyler caught the baby and cut the umbilical cord.

Rosy red face just minutes after coming out

 What just happened to me?

Our darling midwife

 Our helpful nurse

8 pounds, 1 ounce

We called my sister as soon as we could, and she offered to bring up the kids to meet their new sister. They got there around 7:15pm and Tyler and I were in heaven watching the kids soak up the new baby.

Whitney could not get enough of her

I am pretty sure she was dreamily saying, "She's SO cute!" right here because she must have said that 100 times...

 My sister was so great... just picking up the camera and taking lots of pictures for us. Here we are as a new family of 6!

 Here are the baby's teeny purple feet

The next day, Tyler brought the kids up to the hospital after Whitney got out of school. Cute Tyler did Annie's hair that day (we're growing out the bangs, obviously). I love how Annie is "petting" the baby's head here with the back of her hands. She learned that gentle way of touching from the butterfly museum in Colorado this summer.

Still LOVING her new sister (thanks to my sister for doing Whitney's hair!)

Admiring the bundle

After taking these pictures, Tyler and I decided we had to nail down a name for this baby. My number one choice for a name just wasn't seeming like it fit this little baby. In my opinion, it was a quiet, gentle name and this baby seemed like she had some spunk to her. Even the doctor commented when she heard her crying, "Now that's a big girl cry... not a newborn cry!" And we were thinking the same thing... this girl has some lungs already!

After "trying on" about 5 or so names on this baby, we finally decided to name her Shannon Heidi. Shannon was the name of our nurse when we had Annie (who was almost named Shannon). And if you know where we live, we liked that Shannon was a beautiful Irish name. We wanted to give Shannon a family name for a middle name, and after I saw that Shannon had my sister's teeny nose and dainty feet, I knew Heidi would be a great fit for her.

That night the hospital brought us a "Celebration Dinner" which was intended to be a romantic dinner for two...

 ...but as Tyler quipped, "It turned into a feeding frenzy for five." So funny.

Shannon and I had enjoyed some quality one-on-one time together in the hospital, but it was time to head home on Tuesday morning. Tyler brought Annie & Cole to pick me up, and the kids were looking awesome. Why did I not get pictures of their awesome attire? Annie was wearing a bright yellow shirt, neon pink pants, blue rain boots, and did not have her hair done. Cole was wearing his red cowboy hat, red shirt, and red sweat pants. 

 We joked that no wonder the hospital staff was really trying to talk us into sterilization procedures! ;)

In her "going home" outfit

In the car seat with a binky that takes up half her face...

 Resting peacefully in daddy's arms

So that's Shannon's story of how she finally made it here! I am feeling so spoiled with Tyler around right now. He is the best Mr. Mom I could ask for. He gets up with Whitney super early and plays the piano with her, works on her reading, and then rides bikes with her to school. He builds forts with Cole, motivates him to do his jobs, and is teaching him to ride his bike without training wheels. He plays hide-and-seek with Annie, takes her shopping, and runs around with her at the park. Really. I scored when I married this Energizer Bunny.

Tyler is awesome, and I love that he is soaking up this family time while still making time for doing the things he has to do like studying his oral surgery books. He's preparing for the hectic schedule he'll have starting in November. But for now we just feel complete with Tyler around so much.