Paul "Walker" Hicks

Walker was born on Thursday, May 29th at 3:21 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. He is perfect. He definitely resembles his big brother a lot but Paul and I wouldn't say they look exactly alike.



Dr. Masciello was a great doctor for delivery!



In awe. There really are no words that could ever describe this moment.

Our chunky monkey!

I figured I might as well include Walker's birth story now so that it's not a year and a half before I get around to it ;) It makes for a long post though so feel free to just scroll through the pics!

I had my weekly doctor's appointment on Wednesday, May 28th. The doctor was so empathetic about my carpal tunnel. She said she had it bad with her last two pregnancies and knew what I was going through. She also said it would only get worse and the longer I was pregnant the longer it would take after he was born to go away. Some people even have to have surgery after pregnancy. So within minutes she was calling the hospital to schedule an induction for the next day! I was shocked because I thought even if we went that route it would be a few more days. I was another centimeter dilated but she stripped my membranes again in hopes of helping to get things going and hopefully make induction easier. I got a call about an hour after leaving the doctor that we were scheduled to start induction for 4:30 the next morning. I was thrilled about the early time because I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep anyway and the sooner we got there the sooner we'd be seeing our baby boy. That evening we tried soaking up our time with Gray, knowing it would be our last night putting him to bed as an only child. It was very bittersweet for me. My mom came to spend the night so she would be here with Gray the next morning and Paul's parents were working on sub plans (they are both teachers) so they could leave first thing Thursday morning. I have to say although an induction was not the route I would have chosen, it was really nice having a planned time to go have a baby! I got up at 3:00 to take a shower because I knew it would be a while before that happened again. It was just really nice not having to anticipate any longer when I might go into labor. And I was so thrilled about it being the last night (hopefully) that I would lay in bed not being able to sleep with excruciating pain in my hands and arms.

We got to the hospital right at 4:30. Check in only took a minute since we had pre-registered online. The girl who checked us in welcomed me by saying "Wow! That's a good size belly, I bet you won't miss that!" Haha nothing like one final rude comment!

It was after 7:00 before the induction actually started (with the pitocin) because they had some major issues getting my IV. The nurse blew a vein in my left hand on her first try. Y'all, it HURT! Within seconds it looked like there was a baseball under my skin-it was that swollen! Paul and I are kicking ourselves for not taking a picture of it. I think it really freaked out the poor nurse, who was a really young girl and minutes from being off of her shift. She got another nurse to come try and she blew a vein in my other hand. They called the anesthesiologist and dang if HE didn't blow another vein! Neither of those hurt like the first one but it was not pleasant at all. He finally got one in my lower thumb near my wrist but it was such a tender spot he had to keep shooting numbing stuff in my hand so the burn wasn't as bad. So four tries and over an hour later I had my IV and the pitocin started. I almost forgot to mention that I was having pretty regular contractions by the time we got to the hospital and I really think it would have been the day Walker was born even if I hadn't been induced. And I guess this is also a good time to fast forward for a sec and mention that the pain in my left hand was so bad even a few days after being home that I went to the doctor and turns out I had some big fancy name for an infection that was caused by the IV fluid not getting into my vein and instead floating around in my hand. I've been on antibiotics for several days and it is finally starting to get better. I just can't believe that pain in my hand from a blown vein ended up being the worst part of my labor. And a little ironic that I was being induced because of carpal tunnel in my hands! ;)

Anywho, the pitocin started a little after 7:00. The contractions were definitely stronger but tolerable. What I didn't find to be tolerable, especially if it didn't have to be, was the back labor pains. So I decided to get my epidural around 9:30 ish. Getting the actual epidural doesn't bother me one bit. The back pain seemed better within minutes but the contractions were only getting closer and more intense. Long story short with the epidural, I saw three different anesthesiologists and they kept having to put more medicine straight into the epidural catheter. It helped a lot but I could still feel the contractions and with Gray I never felt another one once I had my epidural. Around 12:30 the nurse came to empty my bladder and asked if anyone had checked me, which they had not. I was already at 5 cm and she said things were moving along well. At 2:30 the doctor came in for the first time. He thought I was still at a 2 because the nurse had not made note of checking me. When I told him I was at a 5 two hours before, he wanted to check me right then. Apparently a male doctor (at least at my practice) cannot check you unless there is a nurse in the room. He couldn't find the nurse so he said he was going to go do a circumcision and would be back in a few. They came back in at 3:10. He asked if I felt the urge to push yet, which I did not. He checked me and said "Um, we're about to have a baby!" Say whaaaat?! So my mom and Gram went skipping out of the room, meanwhile me reminding them it could be a while and not to worry (my mom nearly had a heart attack waiting so long to hear Gray was born). The doctor and nurses were literally running around the room getting dressed and ready for go time. I pushed once and my doctor said "ok one more push and his head will be out!" I couldn't believe it! I never even felt any pressure down there and I pushed for an hour and 45 minutes with Gray. I pushed again and his head was out and with a third and final push, our second miracle came into the world! It was the easiest part of the whole day and I was so relieved to discover that those second babies really do just "fall out"! I felt great and unlike with Gray, I was very alert and saw everything that was going on, all the while carrying on conversations with everyone in the room. I was even more emotional this time, not because the instant love I felt for Walker was any different than with Gray, but just because labor wasn't so exhausting and painful this time and I was able to really take everything in. I held Walker for a few minutes right after he came out and then I just watched my sweet husband holding his hand and talking to him as the nurses cleaned him up. Within just a few minutes we had our skin to skin time and Walker nursed like a champ from the very first time-thank you God!! Shortly after that we let our family (my mom, Gram and brother were there, Paul's parents came later with Gray) come in and meet Walker. It was some sweet time.

Paul's parents brought Gray once we were settled into our room. We wanted the first moments of him meeting Walker to be just our little family so Paul met them in the waiting room. My heart literally felt like it would explode when Gray walked in and said Walker's name. He was so sweet to him from the beginning. He was definitely a little confused about everything going on and he kept looking at my tummy and saying "Walker out!". We had a little train set gift for Gray "from Walker", thinking it would be something positive from the beginning and also a distraction for when I had to feed him, which was very soon after Gray got into the room. Gray kissed and hugged him a bunch and it really was just a sweet, special time. Paul's parents were so patient and sweet to have been waiting all this time to meet Walker. They came in next but didn't get to stay very long because it was already way past time for Gray to eat dinner and start getting ready for bed.

Lindsey came to meet Walker late Thursday night and took these sweet pictures.

These cheeks will be raw from kisses in no time.

Nanny and Papa brought Gray back again the next morning. He was great with Walker again but really had a huge meltdown when we couldn't leave with him. Paul walked out with them and he cried the whole time, which isn't something he typically does. Daddy ended up going home for several hours that afternoon and evening to spend some time with him and put him to bed. We decided another visit to the hospital wouldn't be a good idea for Gray which made us even more anxious to get home.

Ready to go home!

We got home around 3:30 on Saturday. My mom had been with Gray all day so Paul's parents could get a break and spend some one-on-one time with Walker. Gray slept for almost another hour after we got home that day, which was so nice because we were able to bring everything in and be settled and relaxed when he got up. When he woke up we took Walker up to his room to see Gray and he was so excited we were all home. Gray wanted him to get in his bed and meet all of his "friends" that sleep with him.

It's been a hard, but good first week as a family of four. I might get a blog post done in the next month (ha!) about our life so far and some of Walker's firsts.