Simon Andrew

This photo was taken on Sunday after church. Can you believe the roundness that is my belly?! I still can't get over how round my belly was!

Simon Andrew arrived on August 26th at 4:32 a.m.! Simon decided that he was ready to be born, so he gave me one good kick (or punch) and my water broke. It was 5 days before my due date, so I hadn't packed a bag yet. I tried to think of what I would need, but the panic of what was to come kept getting in the way. We headed off to the hospital around 3 a.m. I was group B strep positive, so I had to get antibiotics through an IV. It was my first IV since Summer was born. I thought that was going to be the worst part of the process. I hate needles and getting poked! I was wrong. I have never felt pain like this delivery before! Matthew and Lexi were both born naturally, so I thought I knew what to expect. I was not prepared. About 20- 30 minutes before delivery, I had the IV drug, staydal. Boy was I glad I did, because Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine that delivery without it. The nurse said it wouldn't help much with delivery pain, but it had to have, right? It was kind of funny, because even after delivering 4 other children, I felt like I didn't know what to do. The delivery was so painful, it was all I could think about after Simon was born. I kept saying over and over, "I can't believe how much that hurt!" I'm sorry for any of you reading who are going to be delivering soon. All I'm talking about is the pain. You may be asking yourselves why I didn't just get an epidural. Well, I don't ever have enough time to get one, the one time (Summer) I tried, it didn't work until after I delivered. The Dr commented that I didn't have a potty mouth afterwards and when I asked her why, she said, you asked if he was out yet and when we said no, you said, 'Seriously?!!'" She thought that was pretty funny.

Get ready for a baby Simon photo fest!!

Here are his stats.

Proud siblings meeting their baby brother for the first time.

So happy to finally hold him. I haven't heard anymore talk about a baby girl since he was born, so I guess she has decided to keep him!

Dutiful big brother.

So many big brothers

Lexi was probably the most excited to meet him. He's "her baby boy."

The crew! You don't know how hard it was to get 5 kids in one area for a picture. We did not succeed in getting eye contact from them. We take what we can get these days!

First family photo.

Our celebration dinner. Since we didn't get a date night in before he arrived, we'll consider this our date night.

Grammy and her latest (and greatest) grand baby!

Taking turns is so hard to do!

Future Dr.

Sad that she can't wear Matthew's flippers. Such a cute sad face, she'll go far in life!

Matthew, being Matthew.

Little Mommy.

Ready to go home. We had to stay the full two days since I didn't get enough of the GBS antibiotic before he was born. We had some great bonding time and rest with our extra day, but we were ready to go home. My back was killing me after sleeping in that hospital bed. My heart goes out to anyone who has to do that for any amount of time.

Ready to go!

Our brood!

Family of seven! Wow!

Look how full the car is with all of my precious cargo!

Lexi could not be happier to be a big sister! The jury is still out on how Simon feels about being the little brother to all of these siblings, but I'm sure he will come to love it!

So, there you have it. We are complete now. Now comes the task of settling into life with a new baby, in a new town, in a new house...Wish us luck, we're gonna need it!!!!