Timmy rolls at 8 weeks!!!

Seems just like yesterday we were sitting at Northside Hosptial on New Years Day holding our new son.  Now here we are 8 weeks later and our son is rolling.  The girls enjoy their "Timmy Tummy Time" where they cheer him on as he lifts his head and occasionally rolls over.

 

 

Not only did he roll today, we got this beautiful smile out of him. 

 

I don't think I've be able to get a picture of Timmy and his Tia Aimee before this.  I can't thank this woman enough for all her help during Timmy's birth & most recently during my father-in-laws funeral.  She's the best sister & aunt we could ask for.

 

Grandpa Walker - We love you so much

Harold Joseph Walker of Cumming, GA, passed away on February 6 at the age of 69. Harold was known as a “builder” in many areas of his life – through his ministry, professional career, personal interests and family. All those who crossed paths with him were touched by his giving and loving spirit.

Harold’s faith was a large part of his daily life, and he was involved in building others and congregations as a pastor, teacher, missionary and spiritual counselor. Harold was particularly passionate about the time and effort he invested in helping to build and expand a pastoral training university in Guatemala. Harold was most recently associate pastor at Howlandville Baptist Church in Warrenville, SC.

As a successful entrepreneur, Harold built and ran several construction businesses throughout his career, ranging from homebuilding to large utility plant construction. Harold also had a passion for woodworking and tinkering and passed down a diverse set of building skills to his family.

After supporting his four children to all receive their undergraduate and graduate degrees, Harold went back to school after he retired and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theology and ministry.

Harold is survived by his wife Yvonne; his brother Jim; his daughter Melissa Shipman; his sons Ted, Tim, and Ben; their spouses; and six (soon to be seven) grandchildren. He is also survived by his step-daughters Sharon Giddings and Diane Hudock; step-son Doug Hudock; their spouses; three step-grandchildren; and one (soon to be two) great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held on February 8th between 6 and 8pm and the funeral services on February 9th at 11am, both at Byars Funeral Home in Cumming. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Harold J. Walker to the Guatemala Bible Seminary through Camino Global (Dallas, TX) or to the Vanderbilt Shy-Drager MSA Research Fund.

Timmy's Hospital Stay

Our hospital stay was as wonderful as a hospital stay can be.  The staff was exceptional, the food mediocre, and interruptions frequent.  However, there were a few welcomed interruptions.  The first visitors were our girls and their Tia Aimee, who isn't in any of the pictures because she had a cold and was wearing a mask.  Aimee was a trooper, watching our girls during our entire hospital stay.  Grandpa and Grandma Walker came and visited their first grandson out of soon to be seven grandchildren.  Callie and Jaime came Wednesday nights bearing Chipolte and Gigi's cupcakes! Can you say yummy?  Just as we were heading home we were surprised by a quick visit from Uncle Ben and Aunt Laine. 

We delayed Timmy's bath after delivery, because some believe that delaying it provides added health benefits.  After a several hours of being treated as if he had a infectious disease we decided have him take his first bath.

 

Here is our handsome fellow clean as a whistle. 

 

During our stay Timmy's jaundice levels got pretty high and they put him on a bili bed.  Here he is in my arms receiving his phototherepy.  His biliroubin levels didn't go down enough to get off phototherepy before leaving the hospital, but they provided us with a bed to take home. 

 

Here we are walking out of Northside Hospital for our very last time. 

 

Timmy 1 Month

I just wanted to post a few pictures of our little man. He has no idea how much he's loved by his family. We still pretty much sleep, eat, and change diapers (although until last night he had a 7 day hiatus on bowel movements).  His alert times are getting a little longer which we've enjoyed tremendously. 

 

Hail to Timmy!

 

 We love all his different faces & what about that sweet Mohawk?

 

 

Thank you Aunt Laine & Cousin Jamie for the cute outfit.

Monticello Deer Festival

 We happen to stumble across the Jasper County Deery Festival, when going to my dad's ranch outside of Monticello, GA.  So the next day, after breakfast, we went into town and browsed the arts and crafts.  Everything was very folksy and my favorite was camouflage pillow case dresses.

 

Tim stopped at the taxidermy booth, the girls rode ponies and we all enjoyed watching the local dance team.  We didn't have the privilege of watching the crowning of the Jasper County Deer Festival Queen, but might we catch that next year. :)

 

In the kiddy corner they had pony rides and bouncy houses which the girls both LOVED.  Abigail wanted to go up all the slides but not by herself, so there I went 30 weeks pregnant.  My favorite was the giant slide, I screamed like a howler monkey all the way down. It was literally the most gleeful 5 seconds I've experienced in a long time.  I felt like a kid again. 

 

After our little trip into town we returned to the ranch for a little R&R.  I love these weekends we can spend together as a family. I hope the girls will remember these moments for years to come. 

Warm welcome

Need we say more?  Timmy was welcomed with open arms by his sweet sisters.   Isabella gave Timmy his very first bottle and Abigail held him every chance she got.

Timothy's Birth Story

On the anniversary of his birth I want to publish my birth story.  I can't believe it's been a year already!

Where do I start with this story?  I suppose it starts May 7th, when I felt a little off and picked up a pregnancy test to rule out the possibility of being pregnant.  After my cousin Jamie Walker ran to the dollar store for a few more confirmations, we knew that we had a baby on the way. 

This pregnancy had been an emotional and physical roller coaster, much different than my two previous ones.  I thought after my first two births that I was made to birth babies, but it's very obvious now that I am average.  We were convinced that the baby was another girl.  We had decided to not find out the sex of the baby until it was born, but Tim was convinced after seeing the ultrasound that we were having a girl.  Apparently you need to see more than two ultrasounds to make you a qualified ultrasound tech.  Also, Tim and I felt that the baby would come early, not sure if it was my weight gain, fatigue, or size but we were convinced that "she" would be here before the 11th.

We had two false alarms prior to New Years Eve, the 27th and the 29th.  So when I was having contractions on the 31st, I wasn't convinced that we were having a baby.  After dinner we noticed the contractions progressing and I began bleeding.  So rather than listen to Tim ask me for the 100th time if we needed to go to the hospital, I agreed to go when contractions were pretty steady at 4 minutes apart for about one minute. 

 

As soon as we arrived at Northside Hospital (a little after 10 pm) my contractions begin to slow down; however we decided to check in anyway.  Still convinced that we were having the baby in 2012, I quickly applied my make up so that I could look glamorous in my birth pictures. My doula Mandi Call arrived around midnight.

At 7am we were introduced to Kayla, our shift nurse, who at first came across as a little to "say it like it is", but we quickly found a fondness for her and I am so grateful she was there during my delivery. 
It was obvious I wasn't in labor, but we could not figure out where the bleeding was coming from.  After a few nameless procedures to see if we can get my body into action did not work, we decided that breaking my water would be most natural way to proceed.  By 3:00 PM things were really picking up.  My doula and Tim were wonderful supports allowing me to hang onto them as I worked through every contraction.

I can honestly say that this is where things get a little fuzzy for me.  Which will explain the brokenness of the following paragraphs.  Tim and I worked through very intense contractions, with me leaning on Scripture "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". Asking Lori Braswell from Roswell OBGYN, my midwife, to check me and at 7cm asking if it was too late for pain medication. I am pretty sure it wasn't but she and everyone around me told me it was (which I told them to).  That was ok, it was all I needed to get me to transition, when it was really to late. 

 

I remember Lori not understanding why he wasn't moving down, so she checked me and found out that he's transverse (head to one side).  We tried different positions.  I asked the midwife to stick her arms up and just pull him out.  I looked at the midwife and told her "I can't do this....I need to rewind and start over" to which the shift nurse says "Sure honey you can start over lets just get THIS baby out".  I would be remiss if I didn't say I was full of self doubt constantly yelling "I can't do this", but Tim and Mandi were my cheerleading section giving me constant support and praise.  I have no clue how long I pushed, I think it was for about an hour.  Then the magic moment came, and in my squat I was able to grab onto him while he was coming out and pull him up to my chest. We were so certain it was a girl that when the midwife said, "Look what it is"...we were in total shock that "my girl" had out door plumbing.  :) Never in a million years did I think Timothy Atticus Walker would be two pounds heavier than Isabella.  It's no wonder it took longer to work him down.



As you can see, I didn't get my glamorous picture.  That's ok, I now realize that if you have time to put on makeup...your there too early.  :)

This is where I need to brag on Lori and the staff at Northside Hospital.  Aside from a nurse coming in during the delivery to see what all my noise was about, it was hands down a better birth than at North Fulton.   My midwife didn't leave my side, despite pressures of other pending births, and for that I am forever grateful.  They brought in all sorts of contraptions to help me achieve the experience I wanted: wireless monitoring, birth ball supports, & squat bars.  They even brought me breakfast, granted it was early in the day, but it gave me the energy I needed to birth my baby.  It was such a healing experience for my doula and I who's first births at Northside were disappointing to say the least.   To anyone who might have reservations about natural childbirth at Northside, don't, it all comes down to your midwife or OB.  Lori, knew exactly what I wanted and did everything she could to make sure it happened. 

One last person I need to thank is Mandi Call.  It was so refreshing to have her there for a myriad of reasons.  Doulas always carry with them a magic bag of ticks.  Your hot, there is a fan.  Your uncomfortable, here is a special massage oil.  Thank you Mandi for taking this birth, we couldn't have done it with out you.