This is the Story of a Lovely Lady...

You may have presumed from my silence over the course of the last week and a half that there has been an addition to the family.

You would be correct.

I'll give you the short version - but rest assured when the chaos subsides (or at least becomes my new normal), I will be back to give you all of the gory details.  (Maybe some will be excluded - especially the parts I, myself, prefer to forget!  Some parts of the birth experience are just too graphic for this family blog.)

The short version is this -

On March 6th, my due date, I was induced.  They started the pitocin around 8am.  At 3:29pm, after 7.5 hours of increasingly intense labor during which I passed the point of no return for an epidural (by choice - I did it!), the mysterious Shep #4 came into this world.  Arriving in the posterior position just like big sister, Abby, our newest baby girl, Leah Caroline, weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and measured 21 inches long.  Something about these feisty little Sheppard women - they come into this world wanting to see it all - sunny side up from the beginning.  Her position made for a more difficult labor and the most intense pushing I've experienced.  I had the burst blood vessels all over my face to prove it.  (Not a pretty sight, my friends.  Apologies to Aneesa & Co. for having to witness it first hand that night!) 

No matter, what we held in our arms was a perfect round, rosy, healthy baby girl with a tiny bit of blondish fuzz on top. 

And despite what I said a few days ago to my very own sister before Leah was born, maybe some newborns are pretty after all.

 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.  James 1:17