Walter

On January 18th, I went in for my last OB appointment before Walter was born. My blood pressure was just slightly elevated for the second week in a row and there was protein in my urine. My OB decided to send me to the hospital to go ahead and be evaluated for awhile and have some blood drawn to make sure everything was okay. Tim went with me and we were there for several hours. It took about three hours before the lab tech finally showed up to draw my blood and then it still took another hour for the results to come back. During that time they monitored the baby for a little while and tested my urine again. Everything was looking fine and even my blood pressure was completely back to normal.

My OB was in surgery when my lab results came back normal. When she was done in the OR she came to see me. While there she checked me and I was still 3 cm and about 60-70% effaced (what I had been the week before at my last OB appointment). The baby was still high at a +2 station. While she checked me she was able to stretch me to 4 cm to see if that would kick my body into labor. They let me stay another hour to be monitored and I did have some much stronger contractions during that time but they were irregular so they had me go home.

My OB felt confident that her stretching me would kick start labor and I'd be back in within several hours. The triage nurse told me to take Tylenol and Benadryl before going to bed that night to help me sleep. If I did go into labor I wouldn't sleep through it and at least I would be rested for labor. For the rest of the night I had a some pretty strong and intense contractions about every 20 minutes. I took the medicine at about 9:30 that night and was asleep by 10:30. From that point until about 2:30 am I slept and didn't feel anything. At that time I woke up feeling a lot of pressure and went to the bathroom thinking that was all it was and went back to bed. About ten minutes later I felt more pressure and went to the bathroom before going back to bed once again. Then another ten minutes go by and I feel the pressure once again. At that point I was finally alert enough to realize I was having contractions but they weren't painful and I was just feeling the pressure from them.

I grabbed my phone, climbed back into bed, and started timing them. The next two contractions were only eight minutes apart and then the next one was seven minutes later. From there they jumped down to four minutes apart for the next two. These all were suddenly very intense contractions and getting even more so. During all of this time I was thinking I would let Tim sleep awhile longer and wait to make sure these contractions kept coming and stayed consistent. It was about 3:30 when Tim first woke up and I told him they were four minutes apart.

Well about five minutes later he asked if I was even getting a break between contractions anymore and I said no because now they were suddenly two to three minutes apart and lasting at least a minute and a half. I knew my body was in transition but I didn't want to get my hopes too high yet. I was scared of getting sent home again. (That had happened just the week before when my contractions were coming regularly and felt just like my other labors had before getting to transition.) The intensity and pain kicked up even more at this point and we decided it was time to get to the hospital. It took me about another six minutes or so to get dressed because I could only do so between contractions, which was only about 30-60 seconds at the most.

We had spent the night at my parents that night, which I am so glad we did, for multiple reasons. We didn't have to wake up the kids to drop off somewhere or call and wait for someone to come stay with them, or have a 30+ minute drive ahead of us to the hospital. My parents only live about five minutes away which made the drive much easier to endure at that point (because I was in transition) and because if we had had to drive 30 or more minutes we would have made it with only minutes to spare. It was seriously that intense and fast.

On the drive to the hospital I tried calling my OB and when she didn't answer I texted her to let her know I was on my way in. Then I called the on-call doctor who said he would call to notify the hospital I was coming and he would wait to hear from them to see how progressed I was before coming in. It was 4:30 when we arrived in the labor and delivery unit and they took me straight to a LDR room rather than to triage. That was a big blessing. I found out later the on-call doctor made sure to tell them to do that, because apparently he could tell I was really in labor and not faking it.

Once in the room it took me another ten minutes just to get undressed and into the gown. They asked me, that if I could, to try and leave a urine sample and I was feeling enough pressure I decided to go ahead and try to relieve what I could, if any. As I walked to the bathroom the nurse warned me to not push if I started to feel the urge. So I was able to go a little bit but I couldn't go anymore without pushing and stopped. Then I had to have Tim help me to the bed because I could barely even walk at this point.

I was 8 cm dilated at this point and she went to call the on-call doctor to let him know. Then about ten minutes later during a contraction I started to feel a slight urge to push, but since it wasn't that strong of an urge I didn't and just told the nurse and Tim how I felt. Right after I said that the nurse got a call and relayed that information while adding how uncomfortable I seemed. When she hung up she told me that my OB was on her way up and would be in there any minute. I was so relieved because I didn't think she had even gotten my text at this point and was geared up for the on-call doctor to be the one to show up. Later when we looked at my phone we found she had responded and called the on-call doctor just as he was putting his boots on to leave for the hospital to let him know she was headed in.

Just a couple of minutes later she rushed in and she geared up for delivery. She broke my water and then checked me. I was fully dilated except for a small lip that she said she was sure she could hold while I pushed. The next contraction I pushed and I could feel him descend into the birth canal. I pushed again and felt him crowning. I pushed between contractions to relieve the pressure I felt and then the next contraction started and with the next push his head was half-way out. Another push and there was his head with so much hair! I was in so much shock I forgot I still had to push out his body and just reached down to touch his head. Then they all reminded me I had to push again for the the body and there he was in my OB's arms being suctioned and having his cord clamped.

I kept looking between Walter and Tim, feeling so overwhelmed and amazed at everything. It was incredible. I have always been amazed at the whole labor and delivery process but have never actually cried after having any of my babies. At least not until I had Walter. It was almost like I had never done it before, with how intense the feelings all were. I was so in love with my little baby and couldn't stop looking at him, except to look at Tim. It was such a whirlwind of a delivery and the emotions that followed matched the experience.

Walter Paul was born at 5:04 am on January 19th (Eliza's 2nd birthday)! He weighed 7 lbs and 15 oz, making him my largest baby yet. He is named for some incredible men who have influenced Tim to be who he is, and in turn effected my life as well. I am grateful for all of their examples and am so happy to have a son named for them.

Since then Walter has changed so much. The other three fight over who gets to hold him all of the time. We've had some rough days but Walter is for sure loved and favored by his older siblings. He's a content little baby and has brought an added light and love to our home. We are all adjusting to a new baby in the house and some are struggling more than others. There has been more crankiness and whining from Arthur, Camilla, and Eliza but we are working through it. We're all just grateful to have Walter here safe and to have him in our family.

Walter is now one month old as of today. He is a very alert baby and is constantly taking in his surroundings when awake. He's pretty okay with his siblings holding him and crowding around. Arthur is a big help at times with calming Walter down. Walter hates being swaddled. He doesn't like being cradled in our arms but prefers to be up on our shoulder or held facing outward. He actually loves tummy time and is great at holding his head up. He loves the sound of water running, making it an easy task to wash him. He sleeps pretty well but has taken to being awake for almost two hours straight in the middle of the night. During those two hours he just wants to be held and to look around, not wanting to eat much. This makes for some long nights but it won't last too much longer. He mostly just loves to be held.

Three days before Walter was born (39 weeks 2 days)

First moments together

Happy Daddy

Proud Papa Keith

Kids meeting Walter

A family of six

Grandma Cathy with Walter

I did a little photo shoot with Walter when he was about two and a half weeks old. He was awake for almost the entire time but I was still able to get a few that I love. Here are some of my favorites.