The Birth of Esther Lucille Cricket
When you’ve had three babies, and they have been born progressively earlier and earlier, you get used to the idea and expect your fourth to follow suit. We had days of contractions and false starts nearly a month before her actual arrival, tricking us into a state of heightened expectation. But our fourth had other plans. As discouraging as that was at times, Matt and I found ourself on countless “last date nights”. We went on more dates in the last month and a half than we have been on in the past 6 years combined. And it was delightful! It was one of the best parts of the waiting. We also went on beautiful walks, and adventurous drives, the last of which started what we now know was early labor. We drove around gorgeous country roads until we found ourselves up in the mountains. Matt found a very narrow, very bumpy, dirt logging road. We followed it up through breath taking, moss covered forest. My entire body was swaying with the weight of my belly as we drove higher and higher. C
