Wooh-hoo! The baby finally came!

Alright, now here's a shot of me in all my lovely round glory...




Oh, yeah...lookin' good. :) But I was actually feeling pretty great. I love being pregnant. And even though Molly was a bit late, I was just fine. I started to get a bit anxious for her to arrive towards the end though. Just getting worried about the girl and hoping everything was okay with her.

And everything was. Early Thursday morning on April 29th my water broke and I thought a big thanks towards my Heavenly Father. I woke Ryan up and boy, did he get up quick. Hearing the words, "Ryan, my water just broke!" Yeah. That's a great way to start your day, right?

I wasn't having any contractions though so, I had a shower and then we decided to wait to call Jim and Mikki (Ryan's brother and wife who agreed to watch our other monkeys while we were at the hospital...and by the way, they are made of Awesome Sauce!) and get the kids up and ready for school. Weston had been asking me every day, "Do you think the baby will come today?" so when he came up the stairs I said, "Ya know that question you ask me every day?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Ask it." He smiled big and said, "Do you think the baby will come today?" And I said, "Yes." heh heh. He was pretty excited. I said something similar to the other boys and wow, it was easier to get Sam out of bed than usual. He's a toughie to get going in the morning, but that morning he was up and awake pretty fast! When I told Emmett he gave me a big hug. These boys had been waiting and waiting!

We got the boys off to school on the bus and then Jim and Mikki came over to watch Zoe. Luckily Mikki was all done with her finals and Jim only had one in the afternoon so they could be home when Sam came home from Kindergarten and the other boys got home later.

So, then Ryan and I headed to the hospital. It was a white snowy crisp morning. And we were pretty excited.

My contractions never really picked up too much and there was that whole lovely merconium thing going on so, eventually they had to get me going on pitossin (sp?) and that did the trick. And can I just say?....I love epidurals. Brillaint things. Just brilliant.

So, after Laurie (my certified nurse midwife who I've had all my kids with) got there and she got all suited up, I pushed for about 5 minutes...and then there she was...our Molly, all gooey and beautiful.


Ryan was very sweet and wonderful. He let me squeeze his hand as hard as I could before the epidural took total effect, he tried to breathe with me and he shushed when I told him to stop reading the numbers off the screen telling how bad the contaction was....heh.

And he looked down at me after she was born, smiled wide and said, "Good job."

Sweet man.



My mom got to be there for her birth, as she has for all our children. And I love having her there. I love sharing those special moments with her. Even though it is all a bit goopey. We were having trouble coming up with a middle name for our girl. We finally decided on an initial. D....for Donna, my mom. :)

Ryan's parents were already planning on coming into town that day, so that worked out great. They got the hospital soon after she was born and stayed and chatted for a bit. We are so blessed by the wonderful families we're apart of! They're all so good to us.

The kids came later and saw her through the nursery window (there had been some colds going around with them) and they were so cute. When Zoe was asked who it was she said, "Pink Molly." Cute girl. And Weston said, "She's so cute!"

My super kind parents took the kids to St. George for three nights and played with and fed and enjoyed them. I'm sure they really enjoyed their quiet home when they brought them back, too! But the kids had a great time. There was play-doh fun and foam airplane painting and a pizza party with cousins and trips to parks.

Ryan and I took it easy in the hospital. Loving and snuggling with our new girl. I love that time in the hospital, all those new moments. All those firsts. We watched her yawn. We admired her little feet and tiny fingers. We stroked her soft head of hair. Love it.



But oy! I did miss my other monkeys. And I was thrilled to see them when my parents brought them back. I had talked to them the night before on the phone and gotten all weepy at the sound of their sweet voices.




Here are my wonderful parents. They are the best!










I love how our kids love to watch her and hold her and touch her and kiss her...



And there you have it. The story of our new sweet girl, our Molly...



Molly D. Shakespear


8 lbs. 10 oz.


20" long


Born April 29th at 4:42 p.m.