Announcing Walter James

I'm pretty sure by now my announcements should have arrived, so I will post it now here.

The front of the announcement said, "Just arrived" and after that the details varied. Some had a stamped animal train. Some had felt cars, trucks, or planes. The colors were all similar, but I didn't have a cookie cutter announcement. I can't ever replicate anything exactly. Just not my style I guess.

Is he not one of the cutest little (big) guys ever?? When I snapped this photo (about a month ago) I was so happy I finally caught him on camera so perfectly.

At 3 1/2 months he weighs in at 18-19 lbs on my scale and by my measurements he's about 26 inches long! That means he's gained about 11-12 lbs. and grown about 5 1/2 inches in just a few short months!! That just seems like a ton.

He is my wonderful little Walter. (I call him both Walt and Walter depending on my and his mood.) He is a fabulous baby. If he's fed with a clean diaper and has had enough sleep, he is just as content as can be.

He is in a very fun stage right now.

He is gaining control over his hands and arms and licks/sucks his hands like little lollipops. He rarely puts individual fingers in his mouth, though.

It's easy to make him smile and giggle.

He is ticklish, especially when I'm changing his clothes.

We just moved Dean's old crib into our bedroom since Dean is happily transitioned over to the toddler bed and has been for a few months. I am so glad to be done with the pack and play. He was so long I had to put his feet in first (under the changing table) and then lay his body down. I will get a real mini-crib (or a wooden rocking cradle) the next baby we have if Walt's still using the regular crib! I am not a fan of the pack n play bassinet any more.

He has beautiful blue eyes.

He is close to rolling over. Every time he's on his back he cranes around to the left and twists till he is all but flipped completely.

He no longer sleeps all swaddled up, but it has been a little harder and taken a little longer to get him to sleep. I think he's getting closer to the point where I don't have to put him in bed asleep, but will fall asleep on his own without his arms jerking and waking him up.

His longest naps seem to take place in my bed after I've nursed him/taken a nap with him. I finally figured out how to nurse in bed! I never could get it down with Dean. I only do it during naps though. It's too frustrating at night.

He "talks" a lot when I am out of sight. He squeaks and squawks letting me know that he wants a little attention. He doesn't cry a whole lot (unless he's been "talking" for awhile without any response from me), but he does let me know he wants to see me or be picked up.

At night he sleeps from about 7-7 and normally eats 2-3 times during that time.
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Walter's Birth Story

I never actually told his birth story. Since he was a scheduled c-section it just seemed a little anti-climactic.

He was due August 3rd and we scheduled his c-section 1 week earlier on July 27th. I never had any contractions with him. We were the first surgery that morning and we had to get there around 5:30 am. My friend Alexis came to our house about 5:15 that morning and hung out on the couch until Dean woke up. She then took him to her house to play with her daugher who's 2 weeks younger than Dean until Matt could come get him.

We drove to the Medical Center of [our town]. After we got inside they immediately had me dress in a hospital gown. Since we'd forgotten to check in and pay our co-pay, Matt went down to do all that while they were doing my IV and vitals.

When they put in my IV the prick hurt worse than any prick I can remember. My blood pressure dropped really quickly, and I nearly passed out. Another nurse was taking my vitals at the same time and my numbers were like 60/40 or something crazy like that. My lips and face lost all color and when Matt came back, I was white as a sheet and they were trying to get me through that.

We waited about 30 min. for the doctor to arrive and prep and then they wheeled me into the OR. I got a spinal and my anesthesiologist was a great. He was really nice, warm, upbeat and a calming influence. I think I twitched the first time he tried to do my spinal, but he got it the second time and it really didn't hurt. While the drugs started kicking in, he made casual conversation, mainly about that YouTube wedding video where the wedding party danced down the isle that was circulating at the time. And he talked about fishing at the lake in his back yard.

The spinal was WAY better than the drug route I went with Dean. They put up a sheet to cover my lower half and they brought Matt in. He stood by my head and held my hand. They cut and tugged (all the while I didn't feel a thing. I love modern medicine.) and within about 15 min. they pulled out our baby. Matt snapped a picture of the doc holding him right after she pulled him out and you can totally see my belly all cut open. Pretty crazy.

Nurses took him and cleaned him up a little in the corner of the OR. They wrapped him up and someone held him by my head so I could see him while the doc. continued stitching up my belly and whatnot.

While I was drugged and barely had use of my arms, I was lucid and was able to actually see him. That was nice. I didn't have the body convulsions I had after Deans, and I felt very calm. It was surreal, but I was calm.

They took him and did all his tests and measurements and I waited somewhere (in the OR?) about a 1/2 hour until a recovery room was ready. While we were waiting for our room Matt and I talked about name impressions since we hadn't settled on a name beforehand. The name that came to Matt was Walter Campbell. After seeing his super blond hair with possibly a tint of red, Walter James or James Campbell kept alternating in my mind. It took me 2 days, but I finally went with Walter James. I'm glad we did. He's a good little Walt.

All of the nurses and hospital personnel continually commented on how much blond hair he had. I guess it's pretty uncommon to see so much blond hair on a new born.

They brought him back to my room after all his tests. He seemed so little. He was a lb. lighter than Dean was when he was born, and he seemed so bony! While in the hospital we had a little scare that he might have strep (though my doctor thought that was nearly impossible) because of some weird blood counts, so they had him on an IV the whole time. That was so sad to see his tiny hand all wrapped up with the IV.

Since I couldn't lift him out of the cart by myself and Matt wasn't with me the whole time, he mainly stayed in the nursery and they brought him to me to nurse.

After I was settled, Matt went and picked Dean up around noon. He took Dean home and put him down for a nap then they came and visited me in the hospital after he woke up. Dean was a little confused, but kind of just thought Walt was a passing novelty. He waved to him and could say Walt's name. He was really nice to him in the hospital. He took me not being at home for 4 days better than I thought he would. That was scary and hard for me since we'd never been apart for more than 2 hours before.

On a side note, here is the best advice I can give to people having c-sections: Bring Fiber-One bars. There's a high probability of being constipated from the drugs and surgery. After Dean I drank a ton of warm prune juice mixed with soda. It wasn't horrible and worked ok. But let me tell you! This time I ate 3 fiber bars (that were delicious) and a bowl of Fiber One cereal the first day and by the next morning, just 24 hours after my surgery, I had a bm and it wasn't even painful. I ate 2 more bars and a bowl of cereal that second day and I didn't have one problem with it at all after that. I had to laugh when they asked if I'd passed gas yet and I said, "Well, I've already had 3 bowel movements!"

The first shower I took in the hospital was a crazy experience. I got in and turned it nice and hot. It felt good to stand under hot water and get clean. But then I started feeling very woozy. I had shut the door and it was super hot. I had a chair in there and somehow got myself into it. Just when I felt like I was going to pass out, I heard a nurse in my room calling in to me, "Is everything all right in there?" I told her I was feeling woozy and she came in and got me. She quickly called for help because she could tell I wasn't doing so well. Another nurse brought some smelling salts because I was on my way out of consciousness. Those things are strong! But it helped and they wrapped a towel around me and took me back to my bed. It was pretty crazy. They said maintenance had been working on the water and must have turned the heat up higher than normal. I leveled out after I got some cool air. I hadn't rung for help, so I asked the nurse how she knew I needed something. She said, "Well, I just got this feeling like I needed to come check on you." How grateful I am that the Lord sends promptings to everyone willing to listen! I am positive that's what it was. She was one of the nicest nurses (and I knew her from my first stay there as well). I felt very blessed.

This time I was able to walk quicker, stand up straight quicker, and over all I felt better faster. I have to say, though, that it was pretty hard not to be able to pick Dean up for 6 weeks. I only made it 4 and then I couldn't take it. I kept worrying that I was doing too much, but I just couldn't not pick up my little Dean. After I started picking him up, all I heard for about 2 weeks was "Hold you me mommy!"

I stayed alone in the hospital since Matt had to stay home with Dean. I had some really great nurses this time around. One of them was LDS and had 5 kids of her own. She was really helpful one night when Walt didn't want to do anything but sleep when he needed to eat. Matt came and visited me about twice a day with Dean. My parents got there on Wednesday (I had surgery on Monday) and then I came home from the hospital on Friday.

Walt's just been a dream baby. He is just the baby I needed this time around. I love seeing his personality form. Dean's really coming into being a big brother. We all still have our "adjusting" moments, but he's just been such a blessing to our family.