Five Firsts With Our Fifth

For this being our fifth baby, there are many firsts, making us almost feel like first-time parents again.  Almost.  

This is the first time we've been able to attempt a home birth.  We have practiced the Bradley Method for every birth and each one could have been born at home, but financially, it has always been cheaper to have a hospital birth.  Until now.  I can't tell you how much peace it brings to know that we won't have to make the nerve-wracking trip home from the hospital.  They are just so little in those car seats!  Personally, hardest part of a hospital birth is to wait until they release us.  It's torturous to crave contact with the rest of my family back home, to want to bond together with the new baby, to help everyone transition into their new roles, but to have to wait until the hospital decides to free us.  What a gift to have the whole process at home!

For the first time, we didn't find out the gender.  The planner that I am must be chilling out a bit.  I had to know what I was having with the other four babies so I could prepare a gender-specific layette.  So we would only need to choose one name.  Either a boy name or a girl name.  It just made sense.  This time around, it's fun to have such a mystery child, though I will admit at times I just wanted to get a pink or blue onsie or two.  But you know what?  This is exciting.

For the first time, we are waiting to name this baby after we meet it.  We've never had the luxury that a home birth brings to wait to name the baby.  I have a few ideas tucked away, but anticipating that moment where we study the baby, pray over him/her (some more), and decide a good name fit after meeting this little one feels so good.

The infant car seat won't be installed until after the birth.  This is most convenient since, thanks to the new California law, our six-year-old will still be in a booster seat for two more years.  This makes that back seat quite snug with three of them (with one in a booster) squeezed back there together.  Keeping that back seat less crowded for as long as possible is ideal.

This is the first pregnancy and newborn that will have the honor of professional photo shoots, thanks to a very generous photog friend.  This makes my heart happy, seeing as the youngest children of large families tend to have the least amount of pictures taken of them.

It is rather strange to have so many firsts with it being our fifth child.  But it feels adventurous, in a way.  I like it.