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!

Baby Shower Time

Phil's nurse, who's name also happens to be Stephanie, was sweet enough to help put together a baby shower for us at Phil's office. It was a surprise for Phil, he had no idea it was happening. They had to let me in on it just to get me there. So after preschool a few weeks ago, I took Megan and Everett over to Phil's office for the big surprise. Phil was very surprised and had no idea what was going on until one of the nurses walked in with Everett. Since this is our fourth baby, we've been telling everyone that we don't really need anything. But the ladies at the office went all out. Everyone brought homemade dishes from home. And we were showered with plenty of diapers,wipes and other baby goods. We also received gift cards to Babies R Us and a restaurant right up the street from our house....perfect for take-out after the baby arrives. And they gave me a very nice gift card to a local day spa. One of the girls made a beautiful cake and cupcakes that looked like they had came from a local bakery. I wish I had taken more pictures! We did snap this one before they cut into the cake.

Our good friends, Joel and Tiffany, also hosted a shower for us. They were so nice to do this for us. It was a couples shower and was at the clubhouse in our neighborhood so folks could come and go as their schedule allowed. Again, I didn't take pictures like I should have. My mom grabbed the camera and took some pictures of the set up and some candids as people started to arrive. Some of our friends that were able to come to the shower were the Deonanans (who hosted), my parents, Phil's dad and Pat, the Pearces, Gallimores, Hudsons, Deiblers, Motews, and Workmans.

There was a ton of food. I think I ate about 30 strawberries....they were so good!

We left Everett at home, but the girls really wanted to come. They played outside and watched movies and ate during the shower.

The girls played in the trees outside with Nana and Popaw.

This one was taken by Makena. :) What a big baby belly!

Piano Recital, Field Day & Last Day of Kindergarten

Makena just had her second piano recital. She played three songs: Mickey Mouse March, Winnie the Pooh and C is for Cookie. She practiced, probably not as much as she could have, but as much as could be expected of a 6 year old. She did really well playing her songs despite being a little nervous before it was her turn to play (even though she denies being nervous).

 After the recital...

 This is the last shot of us as a family of 5!

 Makena had field day at school just before getting out for summer break. I volunteered to help keep track of everyone out on the field. It was a super hot day but the kids had a great time. I think it was a good thing it was only half the day! 

 I caught this shot of Makena and her BFF, Lillia.  I hope we can get together with her this summer even though Makena said her family will be going to Greece for 6 weeks during the break. Such sweet friends. :)

 And here is our sweet Makena on her last day as a kindergartner. She is holding a picture of herself that I took on her first day of kindergarten.

 It is scary how fast that first year of elementary school went by. I'm hoping this summer goes by nice and slow because I'm not ready for first grade yet!

Here are the three little ones at the pool on Memorial Day weekend. Opening weekend!