Montenegro, Party of 7

Baby Boy Montenegro is finally here, and our little Montenegro army could not be more excited!

The girls have known for a while that the day was coming soon—the day they’d finally get to meet our newest little addition (a.k.a. Dude’s future partner in crime). They’ve been asking every single day if today was the day. And finally… it was.

If you watched my Instagram stories a couple days ago on Saturday, you saw that I took a tiny bit of castor oil to try and get things going. All three of my girls had come a week early, and Malcolm came a week late—I was not excited about the possibility of this little man following in his brother’s footsteps. My goal was to give him a gentle nudge, not a full-on eviction, which castor oil can sometimes do depending on how ready the baby is when you take it.

My sisters had mixed results with castor oil—some great, some not-so-great—so I wanted to be cautious. The standard recommendation is 2 ounces, but I started with just one teaspoon. That seemed to get a few contractions going, so I took three more teaspoons later (still only about a quarter of a full dose).

Sure enough, contractions started—but they were inconsistent and all over the place in terms of intensity. By the next day, they had fizzled out. I decided to back off and let baby get a little more ready before trying anything else.

Monday was pretty quiet—just a few random contractions here and there. But then, wouldn’t you know it, early Tuesday morning around 5 AM I had a strong contraction that actually woke me up. I went back to sleep, had another at 6, then again at 7. After that, they started picking up: 7:30, then 7:45, then 8:00.

By 8:30 I went for a short walk—a little half-mile loop—and suddenly the contractions were coming every two minutes. Stuart was getting ready to leave for work, and as I saw him drive away, I called him and said, “I think you’d better come back.”

We sat in the car for a bit to see if the contractions would keep up, and after an hour, they were still going strong.

Once we got to the hospital, the contractions weren’t speeding up, but they were definitely getting more intense. I got checked and was at 5 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I got the epidural—and thank goodness—because by that point, things were really starting to hurt.

A couple of hours later, they checked again and said I was at a 9. They started prepping for delivery, but it turned out to be a false alarm—I was more like a 7 or 8—so I stopped pushing and waited a little longer.

About an hour later, I started feeling pressure again. The epidural was still working, but I could feel enough to know something was happening. At 2:15, they checked me and I was fully complete. I pushed twice, and at 2:26 PM on June 10, 2025, he was here!

8 pounds, 10 ounces. 20.5 inches long. Sweetest, squishiest little face. So healthy. No issues with jaundice, blood sugar, or anything else. Just a chubby, tired, perfect baby boy.

He’s a great eater, and while nursing is always painful for me those first few weeks, he’s latching well and has a strong suck. No tongue or lip ties—just that same intense, toe-curling pain I always get in the beginning thanks to my own sensitivities (if you know, you know).

The girls and Malcolm came to visit that evening, and oh my goodness—Malcolm is obsessed. We’re going to have to keep a close eye on him because he wants to hold the baby constantly and hasn’t quite figured out that baby brother is not a toy.

The girls are just as smitten. Lolly keeps saying over and over, “I can’t believe how CUTE HE IS!” Evelyn and Eleanor want to hold him nonstop. They’re home with Grandma for now, but I know they’re counting down the minutes until baby brother comes home.

And as for his name… Stuart and I finally made a decision right at the last second: Walker James Montenegro. We had both thought of the name Walker separately—though I’ll admit, one of my Instagram followers did suggest it to me. When I brought it up to Stuart, I was sure he’d veto it, but to my surprise, he said it had crossed his mind just the day before. So that was that—we chose his name right then and there.

That’s our little update. He’s here. We’re in love. And we can’t wait to introduce him officially to all of you. 💛