Nathan David Walton

Warning.....lots of words and pictures! Just scroll through if you're not interested in the whole delivery process. So, our little baby was not growing toward the end of the pregnancy (which happened with both Molly and Foster as well). They call it intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), where the placenta dies out faster than the baby is ready. At this point it is better to get the baby outside of the womb to be fed by my breast milk as opposed to the placenta. So, my OB/GYN suggested we induce labor on March 27th. At first I did not want to be induced. I knew that meant bedridden. No walking around the halls to help with labor, only getting out of bed to use the bathroom, etc. So, I tried everything under the sun to start labor on my own before the 27th. Nothing until I had a foot massage on pressure points Sunday night. I was laying in bed when the contractions started and they were coming strong. Of course, I panicked and thought, I don't want to go on my own, I want to be induced. How will I know when to go in? When should I call the doctor? Should I wake Scott up? after about an hour of hard contractions, they just stopped. Thank goodness I didn't have to worry anymore. So, nothing else happened and when we were driving to the hospital Tuesday morning, I felt silly for going because I was feeling great. No false labor contractions or anything since late Sunday night. I felt like I could go running instead. But to the hospital it was. We got there around 7:30 a.m., doctor came in a little after 8 a.m. and broke my water and a little before 9 a.m., they started the Pitocin. Scott and I just chatted, watched T.V., talked and texted almost everyone we knew. By 11 the contractions were coming pretty strong. I told Scott I could do without the epidural if I was ready right then to push because I just wanted to relax and push the pain away. But I was only dilated to a 7 or so. So around noon, I finally caved and got the epidural. After it was in place and working, I had a HUGE sigh of relief and asked Scott why I didn't do that sooner? :) At about 1:10 p.m.the epidural stopped working and the pain was back and full force. This time I really wanted to just push it away. Scott grabbed the nurse, she checked me and said, "oh, you're complete. I'll call the doctor and get the anesthetist back in to give your epidural a boost. No one make her laugh and don't cough or sneeze." She stopped the Pitocin and laid me down flat so that the baby wouldn't come out. I kept telling her I just wanted to push and she said, no not yet. Just wait for the doctor. The doctor FINALLY showed up around 1:45 p.m. got gloves and gown on and got me situated. I pushed the first time then just started laughing. Scott asked what I was laughing at when I told him I felt silly for the way I was pushing because I didn't feel like I was really pushing (the epidural was working again and I had no feeling down there at all). Scott reassured me I was doing my part. So I pushed again and again and at 1:55 p.m., it was confirmed we had a boy! I was so shocked. I thought for sure we were having a girl. Not sure why I thought girl, I just did. Needless to say, we didn't have a for sure boy name. So he went nameless until the next day. But oh what joy filled the room. We did it! We had a new baby to welcome to our little family! We were thrilled and felt EXTREMELY blessed AGAIN!

2 days before our family grew

Just waiting.

After the epidural was placed, I needed oxygen because the baby's heart rate and mine were dropping with each contraction.

Here he is.....just moments after being born

They try getting them as clean as they can, but until their bath, they really are grimy still ;)

The proud papa!

Notifying everyone

Brother-in-law Chris Johnson, happened to be in the states and in town for a conference and was able to come up, along with Amy and Chris

Happy big brother

My sister, Jessica, and her boys happened to be in town this week too. What great timing we have to accommodate everyone in being able to see Nathan!

A day old

We were able to come home the next day (got home around 3:00 p.m.). Molly is a baby hog and loves holding Nathan every chance she gets. She sure is a good helper

My 3 boys!

I think this is about 5 days old

Our little peanut!

Welcome......

.........Nathan David Walton. Born March 27th at 1:55 p.m. 6 lbs 19 1/2 inches long.

More details and pictures to follow at a later date!

2 of our greatest blessings.....

Don't fall out of your chair, I'm finally updating!!!! I figured if this baby is coming soon, I better be updated!

It's always fun to take a few pictures when we're all dressed up and ready for church. Molly and Fos are pretty good at posing most of the time too!

Molly has really been into skirts and tank tops and sweaters. She LOVES finding any jewelry she can to put on for church too. It's pretty cute what a fashionista she has become. Sometimes she matches and sometimes not 100%, and I don't mind at all. It's going to be nice that she can dress herself when this new little baby comes.

He was all ready for family prayer

Doughnuts for Dinner

About 3 weeks ago, we ate a pretty big lunch after church so I didn't want to make anything big when dinner time rolled around. So, we decided on doughnuts. I had watched a food network show on how to make these easy things. You buy already made roll dough that comes in those pop-up cans, get a bottle cap and make your doughnut hole and throw them in the oil for about 30 seconds on each side, then top them with whatever you would like. Our house smelled like grease a few days after, but Scott and the kids thought it was well worth it! I'm not a huge doughnut fan, but oh my goodness.......these were super good. I think I ate all the doughnut holes and Scott and the kids ate all the doughnuts. Some had chocolate frosting with chocolate sprinkles, some white frosting with colored sprinkles and some with cinnamon and sugar. We will probably be having doughnuts for dinner again sometime!

Weekend Get-Away

Some friends of ours have a family cabin about an hour away, so they planned an adult only weekend get away. It was so much fun! Thank you Jason and Molly for doing that! It was just a few couples (where do you ever draw the line). It was a really fun group and it's always nice getting to know your friends a little better!

Scott, Molly, Jason, April, Joe, Jason and Heather up front. The first night we got there we went tubing. I guess I should say, "they" went tubing. I asked my doc about going and he looked at me like, "are you really asking me, that would be the dumbest thing you could do at this point". Needless to say, I obeyed orders and was the photographer (even though it was really too dark to take pictures). I know I would've been fine but just didn't want to chance it. Watching people come to the end was hilarious. They had about 5 layers of plastic fence up to stop those who didn't stop themselves. It was used frequently. So many people would plow through at least 2 of the fences if not 3. I just sat there and laughed! It was a fun night. We went back to the cabin, ate snacks and played games!

Some more of the group. Chelsea, Jason, Molly, prego me, Scott, Jamie and Ted

Just the girls

We woke up Saturday and went to rent snow shoes. Little did we know everyone else had the same idea. They had only 4 pairs left. We opted out of the snow shoes and found a snow shoe trail that was pretty packed down. So we just hiked in our boots. Only getting stuck a few times!

Friends, Aaron and Chelsea Rich

Scott just couldn't resist jumping into a few feet of powder. We hiked up this hill and found a perfect platform for him. I so wanted to try but I figured if sledding on a super safe hill was a bad idea, jumping off a tree stump and trying to flip was probably not much better!

My handsome fella

The group again

Cabin owners, Molly and Jason Sant. Thanks again!!!!!

Just like a kid. That's one of the MANY reasons I LOVE this man!!!!!

Rolling down the hill

Jason couldn't resist either.

And the swan dive!

Valentines Day

My true love was out of town on the actual Valentines Day, so we got to celebrate when he got back from Denver. We made this yummy big sugar cookie dessert and ribs and mashed potatoes too.