First things first...we have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. 

Stats:  Born Friday, May 20, at 1:45 p.m. (one week late).  8 pounds, 10 ounces, 20.5 inches.   Blonde hair, blue eyes.  She has a tuft of hair on the top of her head, like Tal's, but not as white. Looks like Riley from the nose up, and her mouth is EXACTLY like Reagan's, dimple and all.

We had the best day ever, and she is perfect.  We (I) may have spoiled her and now she wants to be held 24 hours a day, even when napping.  Oops.

We loved the name Piper, and almost went with it, and at the last minute Travis decided he had to have a daughter named Caitlin.  It's Irish--goes well with the rest of the crew.

I love having four boys...it has been a blast to have all boys around.  You know we even had a boy cat and a boy dog for the duration...LOTS of testosterone around.  So I was a little overwhelmed when I found out we were adding a girl to the mix. 

Then I got over it, and the shopping began.  It is SO MUCH FUN to buy girl things.  And pink things.  And ruffled things. 

I snapped some pictures of some of the sweet gifts we received. By Kid #5, you just don't expect it!  So I had made up very cute Hershey Bars with her name on it ahead of time, and totally forgot to give them out. More for me.

There were strawberries, fruit, and a ton of darling dresses for the baby.  I can't begin to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness!  Well, I have begun, but the cards are taking a while :).

I can't believe I am posting this picture on the World Wide Web. My size was mortifying.  I'm thankful that it was all baby, but it made me look even stranger.   You know it is bad when the maternity clothes don't even fit!  

So everything minor that could go wrong went wrong--and I will stand thankful that it was all minor.  But the baby was stuck in my ribs, which made me cry by the end of the day, my blood pressure was out of whack and I had to monitor it constantly, I had horrible insomnia, and was too exhausted to do much the last couple of months. 

It turns out that the rib pain was because I had extra fluid (well duh, look at me) and the baby kept going sidewards, way up in my ribs. One of my last exams resulted in an "OH MY GOD THERE IS NO BABY" from the midwife. Off for a sixth sonogram. The baby was WAY up in the ribs, and apparently transverse is more dangerous than breech, yadda yadda yadda. She turned once, but then floated back up.  A week past my due date, they said I had to do a version (external turning--ouch) or C-Section.  Well, this happened with Riley and I chose the C and then he flipped.  I've changed a lot, though, and opted for the version. Then I went home and spent the night doing handstands in the pool--I am seriously afraid of the version thing.

First things first.  That hand IV is barbaric.  I may have acted like a complete child, but this is almost always the worst part of having a baby for me.  The next day it ended up getting caught on my sleeve and ripped out of my hand backwards.  GROSS.

So they go to do the version, switch on the sonogram, and she had turned!  They gave me the option of going home, since I hadn't wanted to be induced, but I was worried she'd turn again (and after all, I already had that blasted IV in my hand).  And one of my favorite doctors in the practice was on.  So I said let's do it.  We insisted we'd be there until night, but he said no way, we'd have a baby by 2:00.  And she was born at 1:45.  It couldn't have been a more perfect day (except for the hand thing).

I love, love, LOVE having boys.  It has been the greatest gift of my life.  I was frankly pretty frightened when I found out it was a girl coming. At this point, the only differences are that I don't get sprayed during diaper changes and I get to dress her up in pink, ruffly things.  (The shopping has been fun.)  I imagine we have strange things coming down the road (Barbies!  Nancy Drew!  Do not say the Princess word).

So here is the first Daddy-Daughter picture.  Here's to a life time of him being wrapped around her little finger.

So we all know that my parents just had my sister and me so they could get grandchildren.  It's a fact, and I'm grateful.  I guess we didn't take pictures while they were visiting.

Caitlin was born on her Nanny's (Brenda's) birthday...no excuse for forgetting!  Here is her Papa (Norman) with her.  The boys here don't look like they're sure what to do with a girl :).

Caitlin mostly slept in the hospital--we couldn't even get her to eat, but the hospital staff sure is good at keeping you awake!  My BP skyrocketed, so they had to come and check it (what seemed like) every seven minutes.   

Love this picture--we were tired, happy, and snuggly.

I love this little sleeping picture--so cute.  And she is sleeping on her own there! 

Trying to get a good baby picture, and there is my Camden.  That is his BIG EYES look.  They're enormous.

And she has already learned to snooze through the noise.  I guess she was born already used to it.