Walter James

Walter James was born on October 10, 2015 at 2:20 a.m. Walter is named after a lot of amazing men. Walter is a name in Matt's family going back 5 generations on his dad's side (turns out I have a lot of Walter's on my side too) and James is after my brother and Matt's maternal Grandpa, "Papa." I pray that Walter James is 1/10th the man that any of the men he is named for are.  For the Walters, I only know Matt's Dad, whose middle name is Walter but everyone calls him Chip. He is a wonderful guy, a strong Catholic and someone that I really respect. Jim, as I'm sure you all know, is....I don't even know what word to use...I admire his faith and the fact that he lays his life on the line everyday, although it scares me and I have to put out of my mind what he does and just pray that he is safe. As for Papa, I  didn't get to know him before his Alzheimer's but I have many great memories of him and have been told wonderful and funny stories. He was in the military and a cop in Illinois. Grandma and Papa moved to Washington to be close to their Grandchildren - sounds like he was a great family man. He passed away in 2014.

The day I went into labor (Friday, October 9), I worked all day. My contractions were really erratic and not real strong, which usually means it is Braxton Hicks but they started at about 8:30 a.m. and continued. Thankfully, I have a great co-worker who lives nearby and drove me home at 3. We got to the hospital about 9:30 (we dropped the kids off at our good friends, Kit and Sally) and got my Group B Strep meds at 10:05 p.m. That means Walter James had to stay in until 2:05 a.m. so the antibiotics would be in my system 4 hours. My parents and Matt's parents were in the room with me until about 1:45 a.m. when I kicked them out. At 2:05 exactly, I started pushing and 15 minutes later, Walter James was born. It was the most intense delivery out of the three but the easiest recovery. We weren't even in the hospital 36 hours after he was born. That's a first for us!

I have to give credit to the wonderful women on my Mom's side that got together 2 months before for a birth blessing (like a shower but better). They all got candles to light when I went into labor and they made me a pretty bracelet that represented all of their prayers for me to have at delivery.


The last 4 weeks have been wonderful being home with the boys and cuddling Walter James, Travis and Russell.