Nine and a half pounds of sweet, cute, adorably kissable boy

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After about 6 hours, and what seemed a horse dosage of pitocin, my body gave in and finally allowed me to begin the kind of labor that would produce an actual baby. It seemed an eternity, but just 4 short hours later (at 6:30 pm) we welcomed a 9 pound, 8 ounce baby boy to our family. We are excited, overwhelmed, sleep deprived and utterly beside ourselves with joy.

To everyone who has waited so patiently (and yes, even to those of you who haven’t), Stella, Steve and I are proud to introduce to you the newest addition to our family:

Porter Stephen Walston
April 17, 2006
9 lbs 8 oz
22 inches long

Welcome Porter

New Chapter

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Today officially marks my 42nd week of pregnancy, and the time has finally come to put everyone out of their misery and find out if this child is a boy or a girl. I will be induced first thing tomorrow morning, and with any luck, we will have added a new addition to our family by day’s end. Everyone will be notified once the magical event occurs. I promise.

I would have liked to say that the last two weeks have been relaxing and quiet – preparing us for the impending chaos that a newborn will bring – but, life just doesn’t work that way. Instead, it continues to go on at it’s regular pace – especially with a 2-year-old. Additionally, the waiting game that my pregnancies have bestowed require a special effort of patience and understanding – something that everyone handles a little differently.

So, as this chapter closes and a new one begins, I look forward to starting a life as a mother of two, and can only imagine the lessons, love, frustration and joy that will come from this new adventure.

NPR: National Public Radio / No Pregnancy Reprieve

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The Wait Wait… show was utterly awesome. Steve and I were still amazed that someone actually was dumb enough to do a live taping from Humboldt County – an audience pool not necessarily known for it’s ability to keep from making animal noises and blurting out answers. If it wasn’t for editing software we would probably never get an opportunity to see such coolness. (For those who are interested, the show will air here locally on Saturday morning at 10:00)

I can only assume the baby loved it just as much as we did, as it didn’t stop moving throughout the entire performance. I am sure my laughing – and therefore, constantly contracted stomach muscles – didn’t help things much. I think secretly both Steve and I were wondering if I would go into labor and have it all somehow caught on live radio. No such luck. Similarly, the full moon didn’t have the desired affect of cosmically connecting with my uterus and causing my body to admit that this whole romantic journey is over. (When I went in for my final Non-Stress Test this morning at the childbirth center we were informed that last night there were 5 births in a two hour period.)

Consider yourself informed.

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The fluid looks fine. The baby looks fine. The heartbeat (although wacky due to constant activity) looks fine. I am fine. Stella and Steve are fine. We have made some plans and set some dates. That is all I will say other than, one way or another, by mid week next week there is near certainty that I will no longer be pregnant.

Orange. Orange Who? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

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I am going to take a break from Cervex-Watch ’06 (Yes, I am still pregnant and no, there are no real updates at this point) to say a little bit about Stella.

We seem to have gotten over the hump in terms of visitors creating chaos in our schedule and routine, and Stella really has shown such amazingly sweet and charming behavior lately that I am almost without words as to what to make of it. I feel that my actual acknowledgement of these observations will immediately jinx it and by the time I finish my next sentence she will be back to melting down at the mere whiff of the word NO.

While this lasts, however, I need to record it forever so that I won’t forget this feeling of utter adoration that has manifested in regards to my first-born.

Aside from the fact that we have not stood witness to the regular spate of irrational physical and emotional breakdowns, she has also bridged some sort of invisible vocabulary chasm. Don’t get me wrong, she still uses the word My in place of I (which I haven’t done much to deter because really, it is pretty darn cute), but overall, her ability to put complex ideas together in words could put some West Virginians to shame (sorry, Brian).

First, there is the thanks-I’ll-be-here-all-week-don’t-forget-to-tip-your-waitresses joke telling she has been working on. Her medium of choice is the knock-knock joke. She has her own way of administering the joke, wherein we actually have to provide the punch line. She will prompt us with both the “Knock, knock” AND the “Who’s There” portion, then we have to come up with something clever to make her laugh. We have scoured the Internet in search of every compilation of knock-knock jokes that we can find, and tried to commit as many of them to memory as possible. The upside to her method is that you can say something completely nonsensical and she will laugh all the same. But, being the good parents we are, we really want her to be able to be all she can be, and are trying to provide her with some quality material. Who knows? We may have a female George Carlin on our hands here.

Aside from her efforts at slaying us with her wicked humor, she has been regaling us with songs and stories and making genuine efforts to participate in our conversations. When we are rude enough to have a conversation without including her she will loudly (but also strangely politely) interrupt us to ask, “What you guys talking about?” Sometimes we take the time to get her up to speed, other times we just give her the highly abridged version – either way, she is just happy to be included. It is such a shocking reminder as to what a real person she is becoming. It is so easy to just assume she is oblivious to what is going on outside her little toddler world. And once again we are faced with the reality that it is time to be careful to censor our actions and our words, as we are now living with someone who will repeat things we have said at dangerously inappropriate times.

More than anything, I find it comforting that as we enter what is bound to be one of the more traumatic transitions in her life, we are beginning things on a high note. She is about as prepared as she is going to get in regards to having a new sister or brother on the way, and I can only be optimistic that she will handle it with all of the grace and goofiness that is Stella.