Welcome Home Andrew Grayson Walker!

Andrew Grayson Walker was born via C-Section at 1:33 pm on Wednesday, November 25th. He weighed 9 lbs, 4oz and was 20.5 inches long. He came out with a full head of blond hair! I wanted to share the details leading up to his arrival and a little information about his first week. So..here we go...

Delivery Eve - Tuesday, November 24th
I knew that I was on a short time frame considering that I was going to give birth on Wednesday. So, I recruited some help from my great friend Jennifer. I offered dinner and wine if she would help me get the house decorated for Christmas. Jeff had a big test in Anatomy & Physiology and was not available to help me except for dragging out our 10 foot tree and putting it together so that I could attempt to decorate it.

We decorated the front yard with lights, the windows, put out all the cute Christmas knick-knacks and then tackled the tree. I could not have done it without her. She reached all the stuff at the top from a ladder and I moved around the bottom hanging things and then watching them drop as my belly bumped in to them. But, we got it done in time for our homecoming. I knew that I was not going to be able to do it when I got home....especially not after the c-section.

Here is a picture of our tree with Jeff and I in front of it showing how much bigger my belly had become compared to his. I'm all about making other people feel skinny.... yep.
Delivery Day - Wednesday, November 25th

We arrived to the hospital at 11am and the C-Section was scheduled to begin at 1pm. They actually rolled me out to the operating room at 1:11pm. I was not very nervous or anything - pretty grateful that I was not having major contractions or being put through hours of labor. The most painful part of the entire process was getting the epidural. I was not a lucky recipient of either the IV or the Epidural - both had to be done twice. The Epidural was quite a bit more painful than I expected - mostly from a pinching nerve/extreme pressure perspective. When he told me he had to do it again, I thought he was kidding. Turns out he was not. But, really, there is no turning back at that point so nothing really mattered.

I was absolutely deadened from the chest down. They rolled me to the operating room and the entire c-section took about 15 minutes. Andrew was born at 1:33pm and I was back in the recovery room by 1:45. Now that's what I call an efficient process!



I was brought to my room and the stay at what I keep calling "the hotel" began. I was greeted with flowers, cookies, balloons and stuffed animals from the wonderful group of friends and family that I have. It was so nice and thoughtful and I can't express my appreciation enough. In addition, my mom decided to fly in early and surprise me in the hospital about an hour after Andrew was born. That meant so much to me and I was thrilled to have her there with me early. In addition to my mom, I want to thank everyone who came to visit and especially to my friend Danielle who brought my family an entire Thanksgiving Dinner to the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

The First Week

I went home after 2 days in the hospital. The hospital wants you to stay for 3 and insurance pays for you to stay for 4 when you undergo a C-Section. I, on the other hand, was itching to go home when the last stitch was put in. I'm not one for being woken up 5 times in the night to "check vitals" and then several other times for meds, checking on Andrew, etc... Jeff stayed at the hospital with me both nights and was an absolute trooper during the entire process. I could not move much and he became the professional diaper changer.

We did not have a name for our baby boy until Friday so the entire maternity floor knew him as Baby Boy Walker. We were tossing around names that we liked and finally decided on our last day to name him Andrew Grayson Walker.

When we got home, we started the process of getting adjusted to our new bundle of joy being home with us. The late nights, the diaper changes, the sounds of a baby crying, spit up and the problems of breast feeding were challenging, but the rewards were much better! Watching Andrew open his big blue eyes and stare at us in wonder, watching him sleep and learning his little ways have been such a neat experience!

The first week seemed to fly by as I look back on it now. I think I was in a bit of a daze and am finally getting back to my normal self. Learning to live on less sleep is part of that adjusting process and I'm finally figuring it all out. I look like crap, but according to Andrew, I look great, have an amazing singing voice and am probably the most intriguing person in the entire world. So, hey - I'm good.



More to come!