Prologue
Addison's POV
When I first married my husband, Derek, we discussed having two kids after our career were established. Our best friend had a baby during his first year of college. We waited until we finished med school to get married. A year later, I was pregnant with my first baby. A boy, we named him Carson Mark Everett Sloan Shepherd. We said we were done for a few years. That lasted about 9 months before I wanted another baby. We got pregnant right away. We were ecstatic, we went to the doctor to confirm it. We learned it wasn't viable. We were heart broken. The doctor said we had to wait to try again and most times couples got pregnant again fairly quickly. Before we knew it we were expecting baby number two. Our daughter arrived August 1st on Carson's second birthday. We named her Cameron Carolyn Maloney Shepherd. I was done. I thought my husband was too.
We were not done at all. Carson who was almost 3 and Cameron was almost 1 year old when I found out we were pregnant again. Our 3rd baby arrived on Valentines day, our second daughter, Cadence Avery Montgomery Shepherd. We were done. My husband and I juggled our careers and our 3 kids. We luckily had Derek's family and his best friend who helped with our kids.
At some point my marriage started to fail apart. We were so invested in our careers and our kids. We didn't spend much time alone. Derek was busy building his career and was one of the top doctors in his field and I was the same in mine. I spend a lot of time with the kids, our best friend Mark and his son, Cooper. We leaned on each other like I would a girlfriend. He forced us to spend time together. We found out 10 weeks later, we were pregnant again. Shortly after we found out, Derek was very busy. I was a mess, 4th baby, stressed, raging hormones.
It was a rainy day, my three kids were sleeping and our best friend and my raging hormones. Next thing I know my husband is walking in on us. He storms off leaving me with 3 kids and a forth on the way. He wouldn't pick up my calls, return my messages, email me back. I prepared myself to raise my 4 kids alone then I finally got a phone call. It wasn't my husband, Derek. It was my mentor, Richard.
Richard needed me for a rare case out in Seattle. He also filled me in on what was going on in Seattle. My husband was having an affair with a younger woman. He told me to take the kids with me. He wasn't aware I was pregnant again. He was furious with Derek when he heard that.
We arrived in Seattle and with in two weeks we were working on our marriage. We found beautiful house for us and our soon to be 4 kids. We were in therapy and working our issues. Two weeks later, Mark arrived to win me back. I said no but to be honest I think he missed Derek more than me.
The kids were adjusting to their new school. We were adjusting to our new life and routine when I went on bed rest until our fourth baby arrived. Our third daughter was born July 4th, 3 weeks early. We named her Sydney Sloan Forbes Shepherd. She was perfect. Derek and Mark had given up on having a second boy. Mark took the kids once a week to make sure we spend that time together.
I started feeling crappy around halloween time. I was convinced I had gotten food poisoning from lunch. Of course my husband knew better, he handed me a pregnancy test and started laughing. I was the worst patient. I did the at home pregnancy test, it turned blue so quick. I remember yelling for my husband to tell him that we were having a 5th baby.
I went from wanting two babies to having five, and a successful career. We went to New York so Mark could propose to his girlfriend, Lexie. Little did I know my 5th baby had other plans for that day. I had back pain the day before but I was huge was it was nothing I hadn't experienced before. I went to sleep thinking it would be gone, I woke up the next morning in labor with my 5th baby. After 5 hours of labor and my first C-Section, my second son arrived, 5 weeks early. He was his father's clone. We named him Derek Christopher Mark Sloan Shepherd. He was our last baby, my uterus needed to be removed due to a clotting issue.
Derek's POV
I married the woman of my dreams. We were 24 and 25 years old and ready to start our careers when our son entered our world. Carson was perfect, he was a super sweet baby. We wanted to wait a bit before having another baby. When we found out we were pregnant again, we couldn't have been happier. We were devastated when we lost the baby. What felt like two weeks was 3 months and we were pregnant again with a healthy baby girl to be named Cameron Carolyn Maloney Shepherd. We had one of each we were done or so I thought.
We had a 2 1/2 year old and a one year old and expecting our 3rd baby. Our third baby entered the world on valentines day. We named her Candace Avery Montgomery Shepherd. She turned out to be her mother's clone. We call her Avery. We were done with our three perfect kids and our very busy careers. We had a nanny, family support, my best friend and the occasional baby sitter to help us with our three kids.
I never imagined my wife would cheat on me with my best friend. We were both at fault for it happening. I just didn't handle it well. I took off leaving a pregnant wife and 3 kids. I went as far as I could go. I thank god for Richard for knocking some sense into me. By the time our 4th baby was born, Addie and I were in a great place and had an amazing home and were spending a lot more time together. Our 4th baby and 3rd daughter arrive on the 4th of July. We named her Sydney Sloan Forbes Shepherd. She was perfect and were done. We had four perfect kids and a best friend who would make us go out or stay at my trailer once a week.
One of those nights we created a 5th baby. Addison thought it was food poisoning and refused to think it was anything else. I got her to take an at home pregnancy test and flew out my sister who was our OB out to Seattle to confirm it. Our 5th baby arrived on our best friend Mark's birthday and 4 weeks early. Derek Christopher Mark Sloan Shepherd came into the world screaming and was our last baby.