The whole last week of November, Rachel and Jesse were on edge. They were ready - or at least, in a physical sense. The nursery was painted and had the furniture set up. They had a full stock of diapers, wipes, and onesies. They were ready to meet the baby, but were also terrified.

Rachel was due on November 26th specifically. For Thanksgiving, which had been the day before, the couple had ultimately decided to stay home and eat a lowkey meal with just the two of them - just in case.

But the day came and went with no baby, and then Rachel's due date came and went with no baby. By the 29th Rachel was starting to get worried.

She had called her doctor who told her not to worry, sometimes the baby took a little longer than the due date to arrive. The doctor said if the baby didn't come one week after the due date, they would induce labor.

The thought of the this terrified Rachel. She knew that it was something many people experienced, but she still did not want to be one of them, as she didn't fully know what it would entail. Fortunately, in the early hours of December 3rd, Rachel rolled over and told Jesse, "it's time."

*

Rachel had heard the body forgets the first time it gives birth, which is why people might end up going on to give birth a second time. Rachel thought this was complete nonsense - she remembered so vividly every second of what it was like to give birth to Maya, and for the most part, giving birth to Olive felt about the same. But then, the baby's head managed to get stuck on the way out. Luckily, Dr. Allen had seen this before and jumped into action. Olive Maria entered the world safely shortly thereafter.

Olive was quickly cleaned and bundled after Jesse cut the cord, which he said was harder than it looked. Olive was placed on Rachel's chest and in that moment all the pain and stress of giving birth and Olive getting stuck melted away. Sobbing, Rachel and Jesse kissed each other and their sweet daughter.

The next day, they were back home - slowly but surely adjusting to life with a newborn. Jesse had announced the gender by texting everyone pictures of olives, something which their family and friends found hilarious. Rachel's dads were flying in later that day to meet their granddaughter, Kurt and Blaine were bringing an 11-month-old Maya to meet her half-sister, and Shelby Corcoran, Rachel's own biological/surrogate mother, and her adoptive daughter Beth had also stopped by with food. Jesse's parents had even FaceTimed from London to see their first grandchild. Jesse wasn't sure how much effort they would make beyond that - they certainly hadn't made much effort as parents, but in that moment, he was glad they could see her.

Jesse and Rachel were glad that their daughter was so loved - most of all by them, despite how exhausted they already were.