Things from there progressed quickly, until about 1:30 they were 8 minutes apart. Then suddenly, Laurel had a series of intense contractions only 1 minute apart! What happened to 5 minutes? We quickly got dressed and I threw the bags into the car. Laurel struggled to dress between painful contractions. On the road I called Fra Na (our CNM) and Jen, Laurel's good friend and Doula. By now it was around 2:30. Her contractions relaxed in the car, and we were worried we'd jumped the gun again. Jen confirmed on the phone that a change of position usually slows the progression, so we were more at ease.

We got to the hospital (Northwest this time) and checked into our room. They checked Laurel and she was at 5cm and 80% effaced. From here we went to work coping. Jen showed up soon after. In a little while Fra Na arrived, and confessed she had falled asleep instantly after I called her. She had no idea how long she'd been out, but she rushed to the scene and luckily missed very little.

They say the second birth is quicker, and in this case they were right. Laurel battled through the contractions, which were in her opinion easier than Brady's because they came on more slowly instead of in a rush. She again refused all drugs and had a totally natrual birth. Can you believe it! We never had time to use the tub, since before we knew it transition was over and it was time to start pushing.

Laurel pushed for only 15 minutes, as opposed to the hour for Brady. Ryan was slightly bigger but the whole ordeal was very smooth, except for Ryan getting stuck about midway out, leaving a ring indented around his head that stayed around for a few weeks.

Overall, things could not have gone any better! Two births without complications and without any medication at all. We feel extremely lucky and blessed! Ryan was 7lb, 14oz and 20" long.

December 16, 2004
It's another boy! Ryan Walter was born on December 8th, 2004. Details will be posted here soon!

September 25, 2002
Today Brady's 4 days old and we've been home for 2 days. He was born on Sunday the 22nd at 9:32am after 13 hours of labor. He was 19 inches long and 7lb 3oz. Things are going really smoothly, he's eating a lot and not fussing very much. The doctors and nurses have remarked that he's perfect in every test and activity. We are simply overjoyed and can't get enough of him.

We have one slideshow of recent pictures you can click on below. Please note Mom and Dad were very tired! Mom had been awake about 60 hours but you sure can't tell by these pictures. We also have his birth story below if you care to read it.

See slideshow 1 of Brady, parents and grandparents.

Brady's birth story
This is Greg's "short version" - Laurel's will be written later!

I woke up about 7am on Saturday the 21st and rolled over to see Laurel with the stopwatch and a pad of paper. The first thing she said was, "Are you ready to have a baby?" She had been having contractions since 3am, but they were light, and about 15 minutes apart. Naturally I got all excited and I wanted to call the midwife and Doula, but we calmed down a little and remembered our training. We got up and went about the day but the contractions came and went and were pretty light.

We decided to go about the day as normal; we had plans to go to the Husky football game that evening, so we made a big breakfast (for energy) and we cooked a big batch of gumbo for the game (extra spicy to speed birth). As the day progressed the contractions were not regular so we went to the Husky tailgate to see our friends. Laurel was the hero, everybody was proud she went to the game in labor. We parked at the end of the lot so we could escape. It turned out to be a good thing because her contractions started again at about 6pm. We decided to leave at 7pm, right at kickoff. By the time we got home her contractions were 15 minutes apart. We watched the football game on T.V. and timed the contractions as they got steadily more frequent and intense. We called our supporters to let them know. By midnight they were around 3 minutes apart and very painful. We headed off to the hospital ready to have the baby.

When we got there Laurel was only 2 centimeters dialted and 90% effaced. We were really dissapointed, we'd guessed she'd be at 4 or so. We called Fra Na, our midwife, and Jan our Doula to ask advice. They said it was up to us, but going home was probably the best bet. So we got all our bags and headed home again.

We got home around 1am and thus began the "real" labor. Laurel was exhausted and so was I, as her contractions got steadily more powerful we worked through them and fell asleep the few minutes we had between contrations. When Laurel couldn't take much more we used the bath tub and it helped a lot. Laurel spent about an hour in the tub, then got out so we wouldn't slow the labor. We spent another hour trying positions to cope. Eventually the contractions were very close together and very painful, and at about 5am we went back to the hospital. We were afraid she'd only be at 3cm or so, but it turned out she was at 5cm and fully effaced so we checked in.

Jan showed up for the tough parts of the labor. Laurel almost decided to take an epidural but went into the jacuzzi instead. We spent at least an hour there until she REALLY couldn't take it, but measured at 8cm and felt the need to push. She had made it through transition and didn't even realize it!

We moved back to the birthing room where Laurel got about a 40 minute break as transition was over. We thought we were home-free until the pushing started, which was by far the most painful part for Laurel. Pushing lasted about 65 minutes until Brady was born at 9:32am.

We were so lucky that the birth was perfect and went exactly to our birth plan. Fra Na Ready, our midwife, and Jan Dowers our Doula were immeasurably helpful. The nurses at Swedish Hospital in Ballard were all outstanding. We could not have dreamed for a better experience.