Walker Family Blog

I decided it would be prudent to record some of the recent events from this past weekend for nostalgic value and for your reading enjoyment. It was a full weekend for us to say the least.

Wednesday morning (10/24) was supposed to be our “drop dead” closing date. That didn’t happen. We woke up Thursday morning wondering if we would close on the house that day. Taking a leap of faith, I did some wall repair and prepped the place so we could start painting that night (painting a house we didn’t yet own!). Thursday night we went to bed with the hopes that we would close on Friday. Friday morning (10/26) we woke up and still didn’t know when we’d close on the house. Friday we got the carpets cleaned (on a house we still don’t own!) and had the refrigerator delivered. At last, we got a call to show up for closing downtown at 12pm. We were there and it all went smoothly. Praise the Lord! However, there was one catch. The house technically still wasn’t “ours” because the seller (a bank somewhere out of state) hadn’t signed off yet. Eventually we got the call that the bank had signed off on it and we now “owned” the house (actually the bank owns FAR more than we do right now!).

Friday we worked hard on painting and fix ups. I dropped Stan (my father-in-law) off at the truck rental place at 5:30pm and raced home to the rental to throw on a shirt and tie for a wedding at church. We went to the wedding, raced back to the rental and loaded up the truck with boxes and other stuff. After unloading the truck at the new house that night at about 11:30 we turned in and tried to get some rest before the rest of the move on Saturday.

Saturday morning greeted us with a chill snap in the air and a sky threatening to snow. It never snowed and turned out to be a beautiful sunny and warm day. We loaded the truck up with the rest of our stuff and headed over to the new place to unload. A few others joined in the “fun” and helped unload and clean. And wow! Did we need to clean! The kitchen was absolutely awful. I thought Steve Kubick was going to get eaten alive by the kitchen monster when he pulled the stove away from the wall and looked down into the monster’s lair! Everyone pitched in and it was like a bee-hive of activity. We dropped the truck off, worked through supper and got “ready” for our Sunday School class to come over for a harvest party that night.

We carved pumpkins, drank wassail, and watched the Rockies get whipped in game 2 of the World Series. At about 12:30am Shannon and I finally turned in.

Sunday morning at 3am and then again at 6am Shannon felt a couple of “gushes.” We called the Dr. and they told us we had to go in and have her and the baby checked. After everything “checked” out OK they sent us home and said Shannon would probably deliver the baby soon, but they couldn’t be sure. We went back home, and rested thinking that the baby was coming sooner than later. We were right.

Shannon started having stronger contractions as the afternoon continued and by evening she was steadily progressing. Since we have been sent home from the hospital before, we have this silly habit of waiting extra long just to make sure it’s the real thing. At 7:40 Shannon had to hang on to me to get through the contractions. She suggested we wait until 8pm to make sure it was the real thing. I decided to overrule her and decided we should go into the hospital now! The hospital is about a 40 minute drive away (under normal circumstances!!).

The drive to the hospital was INTENSE! Shannon was moaning and wailing through contractions like some maverick soprano in a weird Gregorian Chant while squeezing my right hand like a stress toy. I was on the cell phone calling ahead for a wheel chair to be ready while driving with my knee. At one point Shannon said “I have to push!” I told her in no uncertain terms that she must NOT push! Every time she had a contraction (which were now 2 minutes apart) she was leaking fluid - I thought her water had broken and was sadly envisioning a ruined car seat (we didn’t take the time to throw a towel down first - note to self for “next” time!).

Twenty-five minutes later (I thought that was a 40 minute drive??!) I screeched to a halt in front of Labor and Delivery. There was no one there to greet us. I went running through the halls looking for help. No help was found. After mashing the “Need Assistance” button futily I again went madly racing through the halls in an effort to find a wheelchair. I found one, barked out to the nurse standing nearby that “My wife is going to have a baby in the car if we don’t get moving and I’m taking this wheel chair.” We ran through the halls to Shannon who was still painfully waiting for us. I eventually managed to get her in the wheelchair where soon after “GUSH” - I think her water broke. Man, was I glad that didn’t happen in the car.

Now we all are racing through the halls toward the elevator. The nurse is on the phone calling for backup. The attending physician runs down the hall (sandwich in hand) and meets us in the elevator. We run into the labor and delivery unit where they direct us into room seven like a plane taxiing in after landing. We shouted out Shannon’s name and birthday over our shoulders on the way by.

GUSH! Her water broke (didn’t I already say that?!!?). WOW! I had no idea there was that much stuff in her!!! Was I relieved THAT didn’t happen in the car! Nurses are now jumping over a small pond that has formed on the hospital floor as I get Shannon into a gown. We would have made firemen look bad in how fast we got Shannon changed. She no sooner hit the bed and they were tearing it down in prep for delivery. A nurse was on the phone barking orders to “GET A DOCTOR IN HERE NOW!” A Dr. who happened to be down the hall ran in and started taking over like a general trying to regain order on a chaotic battle ground. Everybody was running, racing, calling, and Oh, by the way, Shannon is now screaming like an Amazon woman in the middle of a war cry!

I think the Dr. was talking because her lips were moving but I couldn’t hear anything. Oh yeah, that’s because Shannon is screaming in my ear. The Dr. kindly (yet firmly) told Shannon that screaming wasn’t going to help and that she needed to focus that energy into pushing. Shannon did as she was told and like a champ geared into “baby mode.” The baby was coming out face up - which we now have learned makes delivery significantly harder. Shannon geared down a little more and started pushing - 5 minutes later Esther was born!

We left for the hospital at 7:50pm - Esther Alicia Walker was born at 8:37pm. She was 7 lbs 5 oz and 18 3/4 inches long. We closed on a house Friday, moved Saturday, and had a baby Sunday. It all worked out! Praise the Lord for His wonderful providence.

What did you do this past weekend?!!!?!

Snow! That’s what met us this morning when we left for church. As you can tell, Naomi didn’t like it too much. She didn’t want to walk on it at first. Crazy! It was beautiful, sunny, and 80 degrees yesterday. Last night it rained and the temperature dropped. This morning the snow started around 8:00 and by the time we left for church everything was covered with snow. Shaun had to brush off the car. It was coming down so heavy and fast that by the time we all got in the car it was covered with snow again. It has finally stopped, and we got about 4 inches. It will be gone tomorrow. This weeks forecast is calling for 60’s and 70’s.

We took Naomi to the pumpkin patch to get some pictures. She didn’t know what to think. She is so funny. Normally when we put her down somewhere she’s off and running. It was almost like she was afraid of the pumpkins. We gave her a small pumpkin to hold, but it was too heavy for her. Than we gave her a gourd to hold and she cried. So silly! We caught some cute pictures, so I thought I’d share them with you.

It is starting to feel like fall. My favorite time of the year! I miss the Michigan colors, bonfires and hayrides. There is no place to do anything like that around here. Naomi and I had some fun outside today in the leaves. I raked some leaves together just so I could get some pictures of Naomi playing in them. She didn’t know what to think at first but I think she had a good time. It must have tired her out because she fell asleep almost as soon as I put her down. It tired me out also. After I got a pile together and got some pictures I thought I better bag the leaves. My pile filled a huge bag. We had much fun!

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside of our new home. We hope to close on or before October 24th. Then spend a couple of days painting etc. and move in on Saturday, October 27th. Thanks for your prayers!!