Introducing Finley Mae

Our little one, Finley Mae Moore, arrived Monday, June 11, 2012 at 6:37 am. She weighed 5 lb 11 oz and was 19.5" long. I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant. Here is the last picture of me pregnant...

My water broke Sunday night at around 9:20. We weren't sure my water had broken at first because my water broke in the hospital with the other 3 when I already had an epidural. And it wasn't as dramatic as you see on TV. It was really more of a trickle than a gush and I wasn't having any contractions at the time. It quickly became clear that something had happened so we grabbed my bag and headed to the hospital. By the time we got there, my shorts and the towel I was sitting on was soaked so any doubt was eliminated. I wasn't very dilated and still wasn't contracting. I got hooked up to the monitors and got an IV and had labs drawn. They eventually gave me a little pitocin to get me started. My platelets had been low again with this pregnancy and I was again in jeopardy of not getting an epidural. They came back at 98k, which was close enough to the 100k mark for the anesthesiologists. They came in and placed the epidural right after the labs came back. My contractions weren't painful at the time. They placed the epidural so early I didn't get to really feel the contractions this time. I could tell I was having them and could feel some pressure but they didn't really hurt....which was really nice! Once I started dilating, I did rather quickly and it was time for our little munchkin to arrive. It looked like there may have been a slight amount of meconium streaking in my fluid so she was whisked over to the NICU nurses to be suctioned out before coming to see me. Phil held her before I did. Unfortunately, my platelets did drop down into the low 80's after delivery so they didn't want to pull the epidural right away. It stayed in until Tuesday morning. You can't shower with an epidural, so I went from Saturday night to Tuesday morning without a shower. I felt so gross. When the nurses asked if I needed something I would immediately ask about labs and a shower. In retrospect I would have jumped into the shower before heading to the hospital. Here is the first shot of our little nugget, Finley.

We were so thankful that Phil was able to take a week off when Finley arrived. He went home and did bedtime with the other 3 to try to keep them on schedule. It didn't really work as well as I had hoped but it was still for the best.

Such a tiny girl!

I'm here!!

I love the swaddled burrito babies!

I can see a little bit of Makena, Megan and Everett in little Finley. The moment I say she looks like one of them she makes an expression that looks like someone else.

She became a thumb sucker fairly quickly. She's also a fan of the Avent pacifiers.

She has dark blue eyes and dark (that's right....dark!) hair! We'll see if it stays that way or if she becomes a blond like the other 3. She has quite a bit of hair for our babies, too. Maybe the most of the four.

After I was moved to postpartum, Phil went and got Makena, Megan and Everett and brought them to meet their sister. Everett does look pretty excited here, which is nice. At 2 years old he likes his little sister intermittently.

Nana and Popaw and G-Dada and Patty came to meet Finley, as well.

The little man has been a bit of a mess since the big day. He'll be very loving and then turn around and throw a fit. We're trying to give him as much TLC as we can.

Makena and Megan have wanted to hold Finley nonstop since she was born. I've had to remind them that she's here to stay and they'll have plenty of opportunities to hold her.

Finley is such a good little baby. My only complaint is lack of sleep but that is normal, of course. Maybe she'll sleep a little better at night once she puts a little weight on.

I hope to post more Finley pictures soon! Life with 4 is fun but very busy, especially considering it's summer. As tired as I am, I much prefer this to being pregnant. I'm loving having a newborn in the house again!