We are home!! I think I owe an explanation for my last blog.....it's Walter's fault! He got a little excited! So, to clear things up...

We went to the hospital on Tuesday morning for my induction. Since it was Super Tuesday, Walter wouldn't take me to the hospital until I went and voted. So, on the way to the hospital we stopped at the polls and I earned my sticker. Walter said everything had to be in order for his child's birth. So I "got my vote on!" We got to the hospital and they broke my water. I had a few contractions, but not much. So, we decided to start a little pitocin. The contractions started but were manageable. Walter and Lori, my neighbor and nurse I take with me when I have babies, decided to go to the cafeteria and get some lunch. They came back about 10 minutes later and I was so glad to see them. My contractions were now about 3 minutes apart and lasting for about 90 minutes. I asked Lori about epidurals and she let me know I could get one now (1:00) or in about 1 hour, so I took it NOW!! I didn't seem to be dilating much, so we turned up the pitocin and prepared to "blast that baby out!" as Lori put it. Julie and Becky, my sisters, showed up and my mom called on skype so she could watch and be with us. We hung out and talked and I watched them eat cookies. Don't tell Lori, but I had some cookie too, it was sooo worth it! As we were waiting for me to dilate further, Walter pulled up the baby naming website and started throwing out his ideas. He came up with Ulysses, Constantine, and some other historical names. That's why I love him. He knows when he has lost a battle, he brings nothing to the table! :) I started feeling a lot of pressure and when they check me we were almost to a 10. I was getting so excited and nervous. I was excited to have the baby and find out what he was, but nervous about taking home a 3rd kid! A little while into pushing we realized that the baby was posterior, so my midwife turned him. We thought it would go fast after that, but it didn't. Apparently he turned again and was back to posterior. As he was being born Walter got a little light-headed and had to sit down. He was the one that was supposed to tell me the baby's gender. After a minute of everybody knowing his gender and no one telling me Lori turned to me and said, "do you want to know what it is?" She then told me it was a BOY!! woo hoo! I held him for a little bit, then they took him to weigh him and stuff. While he was being weighed we found that I had a retained placenta. That's all I'm going to say about that. I'll leave all the yucky details to my journal! So, he's here. Weighing 9 lbs 4 oz, 21 1/2 inches long and a head the size of a watermelon, ok almost. His head was 35 cm. He's got dark brown hair and is cute as a button. Finally, a baby that looks like it came from me! He looks like a Peterson. More pictures to come, but for now we are just loving him and enjoying 3 kids in diapers! woo hoo!! Oh yeah, his name is Grady Giles Gunter. It was Grady Blaze Gunter for a few hours, but then I got my way. :)