"I forgot how much it hurts."

"You're doing great, babe." Mark encouraged.

"Yeah easy for you to say, you don't have an eight pound baby coming out of you. It's been nine hours Mark. I thought this would be fast. I'm exhausted."

"I know you're exhausted. I know it hurts. Just think about holding our baby."

"You know it's been thirteen years since I did this?"

"I know. I can't believe it."

Flashback—7 months earlier...

"Were you aware that you're pregnant?"

"What?" Becky replied, stunned.

"I'm guessing you didn't know?"

"No. Oh my god! How pregnant?!"

"We'll schedule you for an ultrasound next week. I'll leave you two alone."

Becky turned to Mark, "Oh my god."

"We're gonna be parents again."

"How?! I'm forty-three, Mark! We weren't trying. Our boys are teenagers! How the heck did this happen?!"

"Stop freaking out. It's gonna be fine. You love being a mom, Becky. You're gonna be a mom all over again."

"How are we gonna tell the boys?"

"Well, we'll sit them down and tell them mom's pregnant. It doesn't seem too complicated."

End Flashback

Becky grabbed at Mark's hand and squeezed it tight.

"Contraction?"

Becky nodded.

"Getting closer to the prize." Mark said.

"I don't know if I can do this."

"You've done this twice before. You can do this."

"Twice before when I was way younger. I'm old, Mark! This is a geriatric pregnancy. I'm scared!"

"There's nothing to be scared about."

"Why is this taking so long Mark...my last labor was only seven hours..this baby should be out by now."

"You haven't had a baby in thirteen years."

"I know, but after the first two navigated their way through, this one should slide right on out!"

Mark laughed. "It's been thirteen years, maybe the first two navigated their way through what is now a closed exit."

"Very funny." Becky said, between deep breaths. "I want a girl this time."

"I know you do. The boys would love a baby sister."

"I don't remember it being this painful."

"You were definitely in pain with the boys. I remember. You were practically screaming with Mark. Then with Jake, you were angry. I think you're doing really good this time, you haven't screamed or threatened to kill me."

"Not yet. I might kill you depending on how much longer this goes. I can't do this much longer."

2 hours later…..

"This is officially my longest labor. I'm going to kill you!"

"Well now you sound like Becky in labor."

"Shut up. I will kill you."

"Breathe."

"I AM breathing! I'm waiting for the epidural to kick in."

"He just did it ten minutes ago. He said it could take up to thirty minutes for it to kick in."

One hour later…..

"Push babe."

"I AM, babe! You better get fixed because I am not doing this ever again!"

Mark laughed. "I'm pretty sure we're done having babies after this."

"The hell we are done! Done, finished, that ship sailed! Arrivederci adios and goodbye I am done giving birth Mark."

"Keep pushing…" Mark suddenly looked down and saw a baby. "Oh my god, Becky…."

"You wanna tell mom what it is, daddy?"

Mark looked up and smiled, "We got our daughter."

"It's a girl?! Really it's a girl this time?!"

"It's a girl babe."

The crying baby was placed on Becky's chest. "Oh my god…hi sweet girl! You are perfect!"

"I told you that you could do it!"

Becky looked up at Mark, crying. "I love you!"

"I love you too."

"Oh my god….we have a daughter Mark!"

"And she looks just like you. She's beautiful."

An hour later, Mark brought the boys into the room.

"Hey guys, come check her out."

"We have a sister?" Jake asked.

"You guys have a sister. I'm not the only girl in our house anymore."

"You okay, mom?" Mark asked.

"I'm great! I love you guys." Becky said, pulling them into a hug.

"I love you mom."

"I love you too, mom."

"What's her name?"

"Her name is Lauren." Becky replied, "Wanna hold her?"

"Can I hold her first?" Jake asked.

Becky gently passed the baby over and smiled.

"Oh my god. This is so cool. She's amazing."

"When can we take her home?"

"The hospital will discharge both of us in a couple of days, as long as me and the baby are okay."

"You sure you're okay, mom? I mean...you're kinda old."

"Thanks, Mark!" Becky laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"I know. I'm a little old to be giving birth. I feel fine. I'm sore and exhausted but that's completely normal. Hey, I need to make sure we're all on the same page…"

"What do you mean?"

"I know we've talked about it while I was pregnant, but a baby is a game changer, guys. Lauren is going to need me a lot, and she's going to take a lot of my attention. I just want to make sure we're all understanding that."

"We know, mom. She's a baby. The baby comes first."

"I don't want you boys to ever feel like I'm playing favorites. We're still a team, we're just a team of five now. I'll be really busy with the baby for awhile, but never too busy for you."

"We know mom. We talked about this before."

"It's a game changer, guys. It's going to take us longer to go anywhere, because we have to pack stuff for the baby before we can go. We're not used to having a baby in the house, she's going to cry and wake us all up. She's going to have toys scattered around the house. We're going to have to use baby gates when she starts crawling. It's a big change, guys, it's just been the four of us for so long. I want you boys to come and talk to me about what you're feeling. We need to have these conversations as a family, it's a huge change for all of us."

"But like you said, mom, we're a team. We can get through the huge changes, together."

"Yeah, I'm excited to have her in our family. The good stuff outweighs the changes, mom."

"You have no idea how much it warms my mom heart to hear you say that. You boys know that I love you. I'll be spending a lot of time with Lauren right now, but I spent a lot of time with each of you when you were babies."

"Yeah, we're a team. Speaking of which, mom's gonna be down for a couple of weeks recovering and taking care of Lauren. I'm going to need your help with the house, guys."

"We'll help around the house, dad."

"Yeah. We can cook. I can't promise it'll be good, but we'll try. And we can clean the house. And do the laundry."

"Yeah, and we can help with the baby."

"Aww, you boys are sweet. I love my guys. All of you, you're all the best."

"You picked the best mom ever, Lauren. She's the greatest."

The End