Graham

How do I start this post? By acknowledging that it's been over two years and our life barely resembles the life we had before? Or by writing about our newest boy like nothing's happened?

Let's go with a combination of the two.

When Braden was very sick two years ago, we were all in Houston on Keaton's birthday. Our sweet friends from Beaumont drove up and we all went to the zoo to celebrate (well, not Braden.) After the zoo, my sister placed an order for tacos to be delivered. When the delivery person showed up, it was with four or five catering size trays of tacos. Through some glitch in the system, we accidentally ended up with twice as many tacos as we meant to order--the very best kind of problem. Having too many tacos is never a bad thing. I like to compare our current situation to the tacos--could there be a better kind of stress than a fifth baby? Of course not--too many children is my favorite kind of stress. Sweet babies and spicy tacos--things I can never have enough of.

Graham Thomas Scott was born at 8:10am on June 29, 2018. He's been a unique child from the very beginning. I like to joke that Sol wanted two kids and I wanted four--so we compromised on five. The response to learning that we have five children is universal--people tend to make a comment about how we have our hands full and act like it's the end of the world (and sometimes it does feel that way!) My follow up joke tends to be about how I like all of our kids so much--it would be impossible for me to figure out which one to get rid of. Yes, our hands are full, but we like it that way. I've always been an over-achiever.

I was a week overdue and not at all dilated at my appointment on the morning of the 28th. I was set to be induced on the 1st (OF JULY) and wasn't all that surprised--I've had to be induced the last four times as well. Even with Keaton--my water broke a week early, but I still needed Pitocin to actually go into labor and get things moving. But this time was different. At 3 am on the 29th I woke up with a strong contraction--they continued to get closer and after an hour, I decided they weren't going to go away. I woke up Sol and called my parents to have them start driving in. We left the kids sleeping--with Braden's night nurse serving as babysitter. My sweet friend Keri came over at 7 to watch everyone until my parents showed up.



I showered and we threw some stuff in the car and got the hospital a little before 5. By then, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and SO PAINFUL. I was 8cm when they checked me and so I immediately got whisked away to have the baby. Somehow, my water hadn't broken, so once the doctor came in, they broke my water and started having me push. For a lady who has had four babies, I was definitely not acting like a seasoned childbirth-er. I was in SO MUCH PAIN and couldn't get it together enough to push. I tried for a few contractions and then I heard the doctor say, "I'm going to go do some paperwork." and he left. At the point, I calmly asked if I could have an epidural and they got me one, because God loves me. The anesthesiologist asked if I could sit still and the nurse said, "She's very in control." a compliment I will wear as a badge of pride forever. After the epidural I slept for a little bit and the doctors and nurses changed shifts. A new crew of nurses came in and my doctor was the one on call--he sweetly woke me up and asked me if I was ready to have the baby. And so I did!



Graham came out with hair (surprise number one!) that was dark (surprise number two!) He nursed right away and I loved him. Babies are so sweet, guys. So sweet. The kids all came to meet him around lunch and were so sweet. Braden was worried his suction machine would scare him and Keaton just seemed utterly delighted to meet him. Merritt and Finley were equally sweet. I got them all matching shirts which miraculous arrived in time--but because my brain wasn't working, I ordered one that said "Little Sister" instead of "Big Sister" for Merritt. Although it's likely no one would have noticed if I hadn't said anything--and I already got her a correct replacement.



Despite my best efforts to get discharged later that day, Princess Kate style, I had to stay another night. Sol went home for the night to help deal with our other children--the first time I'd spent the night alone after the baby. I didn't sleep much.



What a delight it is to have this kid around. Yes, he literally sucks the life from me and is killing my back. But oh man, are babies worth it.