I am so thankful to Haylee for taking time to come over, in the midst of a BUSY two weeks of her photographing alone while I had my sweet baby, Kate and transition into this new season!

It has been a fun, adventurous, and frankly, crazy last three weeks! I have never gone into labor on my own, so this was something I was really praying for. Obviously four babies in four years is not the easiest on someone’s body, so the pressure of her in me was pretty intense the last few weeks. I felt like she was pretty low, but I convinced myself that it was just the whole ‘four babies in four years’ kind of pressure making it seem like that. At my 38 week appointment, I found out I was actually progressing (yay!), so when I got home, Josh’s mouth dropped when I told him the news. It was exciting! But, we didn’t want to get our hopes up too much…At 39 weeks + 3 days, we had a meeting at church and naturally, people asked how I was feeling. “Unfortunately, really well,” I joked. When we got home that night, I just had a feeling that just maybe tonight is the night…Before we went to bed, I went to check on the kids like every other night and give them a kiss, and I stood in front of Kate’s empty crib and prayed over it. I prayed that the Lord would be my strength through the delivery and recovery of having a fourth baby. I prayed that He would reign supreme in sweet baby Kate’s life. I prayed that she would find her identity in Christ, even as a child. I prayed that she would grow to know Him and treasure Him, that she would love Him with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then I prayed for her older siblings. Although another baby would be SO incredibly joyous, the thought of it changing their lives was a mix of emotions. Afterward, I went to bed feeling peace and excited for whenever the time would be for Kate to come.

And then I woke up at 3am to use the restroom…Stunned in disbelief, “surely that couldn’t have just been my water that broke….” I literally sat in the bathroom for 30 minutes questioning if I was dreaming. I didn’t want to wake Josh up if this wasn’t real. So I grabbed my phone and texted my friend who had planned to watch the kids IF I were to go into labor in the middle of the night…We thought it’d be best for her to come over (once I finally talked myself into waking Josh up to tell him!). Josh responds with, “Oh my gosh…we need to clean the bathrooms first!” WHAT??! Haha! (Random Josh fact: He loves a good, clean bathroom.) Contractions were so random, so we had time. Once Maggie came over, we headed to the hospital. Okay, so we went to Starbucks first. We checked into Sacred Heart Hospital and they made sure it was in fact my water breaking, and then got settled. Between looping the hospital hallways and bouncing on the labor ball, I was sure that she would be here soon! I got an epidural because things started to get more intense (and there was no way I was skipping out on that!). I was hoping it was just taking some time to kick in, but I  quickly realized it didn’t fully numb me…I kept feeling pressure, pressure, pressure and the nurse said it was normal. I had to have told her at least 5 times that I felt like Kate was about to come out! Dr. Esses was on her way, thank goodness because I thought Kate would get here before she did! 🙂 Dr. Esses walked in the door at 4:05, got her tools ready, and said Kate was right there. With two sets of pushes by 4:10, there she was. My beautiful baby.

When the kids came to the hospital to meet her, they fell in love as quickly as we did. And as you scroll through these images, I think you’ll see just how much! So. many. kisses. She’s in my lap right now as I type and I can’t help but look at her with tears in my eyes. She is so special.