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Labors of love

By Jay Dedrick, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 29, 2005 at 4:53 p.m.

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"You have to survive, little tree," Tina Galgon-Herr tells a sapling in late November 2004. She and her husband, Christopher Herr, planted the pine a few months ago, and she worries that deer may have damaged it. Visiting Boulder for Tina's pending labor, her parents and siblings get an early look at the home being built for mom, dad and baby.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol © The Rocky

"You have to survive, little tree," Tina Galgon-Herr tells a sapling in late November 2004. She and her husband, Christopher Herr, planted the pine a few months ago, and she worries that deer may have damaged it. Visiting Boulder for Tina's pending labor, her parents and siblings get an early look at the home being built for mom, dad and baby.

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With thickly gloved hands, the homeowner picks up a pair of safety goggles and slides them over his closely shaved head. He hikes across the steep building site in the foothills north of Boulder, where the house's concrete foundation is set and the wooden skeleton of the first floor is coming together. Pausing, he flicks a bit of sarcasm at his builder, James Casanova.

"Hey, Casanova! What's my hourly?"

The lob is quickly returned. "What do you want it to be?"

The crew laughs.

"Yeah, I guess you got me there," Christopher Herr says. "I'm paying it one way or another."

On a warm, sunny November afternoon, just four days after snow delayed construction, Christopher is investing some sweat equity in the home he co-designed for his family. He joins the crew in placing a pair of ruddy steel I-beams that will support the home's second story.

Gripping a long yellow belt tied to one of the beams - nearly half a ton - he steadies it as it dangles high overhead from a forklift. After a few minutes of maneuvering, the metal crossbar is in place, and Christopher has a free moment to greet Tina Galgon-Herr, who just arrived from their condo and hasn't visited the site in about a week.

"Instead of looking like archaeological ruins, it looks more like a house now!" She smiles and pats her belly. "It feels like our house."

While the home has been under construction for 11 weeks, Tina's other major endeavor - her pregnancy - is 36 weeks along. In less than a month, she and Christopher expect their first child.

A firm foundation at last

The concrete foundation of their nest is firm, despite a fair amount of chaos during its pouring. Just a few weeks ago, the steep slope of the hillside made its presence known to the driver of a concrete pump truck, who couldn't power his rig past the street and onto the driveway. James, fearful of having thousands of dollars of concrete ruined by the wait, ordered smaller concrete trucks up to the home site to pour the material into the foundation forms.

Then came a quick fix on the driveway: A skidder, normally used for hauling logs, was used to flatten the base of the driveway. The big rig made finally made it up the hill.

No such luck a week later for a 35-ton concrete truck that got stuck in the ditch alongside the driveway. A wrecker managed to right the vehicle, but not before a lengthy wait, resulting in stale concrete being poured onto concrete already beginning to set inside the forms. The unfortunate timing led to some cosmetic flaws and crumbling seams.

"We hemmed about that for a week or two, and decided the best decision was to cut down that part of the wall and redo it," Christopher says. "Patching it would have been fine structurally, but challenging aesthetically.

"Concrete has been a big thorn in James' side."

Windows to the future

Such barbs are absent on this November 2004 day. Christopher and Tina sit on stacks of wood, pre-assembled wall panels with built-in insulation waiting to be installed. The finished home will comprise about 56 of the panels. Total installation time will be about three weeks.

Window holes punched in the north wall of what will become Jack-and-Jill bedrooms offer pleasing views of pine trees. But one window's close proximity to the floor - about 18 inches of clearance - already has the mother-to-be fretting.

"I'm afraid when they're little, they might fall out the window," Tina says, thinking not only of the child she's carrying, but another child they hope will follow in the years ahead.

Christopher grins. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he tells Tina.

Talk of children stirs Christopher's imagination, too, as he walks into the main living space that's under construction. He crouches before a small rectangular window hole that sits just inches above the floor and peers outside.

"You know, this is a window for Baby," he says to Tina. "I hadn't thought of that."

Time alone with his thoughts is rare for Christopher these days. He's been busy this fall studying for and taking architectural exams in pursuit of his license.

He and Tina continue at their jobs - Christopher at his studio, Tina nursing at Boulder Community Hospital - and find time to fix up and redecorate the tiny condo they own. Once they've moved into their house, they plan to rent out the condo, and want to have it in showing shape.

Showered with love

A 600-square-foot condo certainly does not lend itself to a gathering of 40 or so friends and colleagues. Which is why, two weeks after imagining their child inside the new house, the couple are headed elsewhere for the baby shower. Snow falls gently on the golf course just outside the Boulder home of Lisa Andren-Petersen, who works with Tina at the hospital.

"They've been very kind and nurturing to me," Tina says of her co-workers. "They're very protective - my little mother hens at work."

"We tell her, 'Don't lift! We'll lift!' " says Annette Montoya.

Between bites of bruschetta, sushi, and chips and salsa, Christopher and his partner, architect Brad Tomecek, briefly talk shop; their business has five projects in the works. But they look to the Box House as being their first signature structure, a creative hallmark.

The first floor of that building has gained a roof in recent days, and the Herrs plan to show it off to Tina's parents once they arrive in town over Thanksgiving.

While Christopher and Tina unwrap pajamas and blankets, toys and piggy banks at the shower, their friend Katlen Smith posts baby pictures of the partygoers on a poster, readying a guessing game for later in the afternoon.

"They're just positive people," she says of Christopher and Tina. "They're very mellow. They know they're going to be out of the condo in six months. They don't talk a lot about the work ahead of them - they just put their heads down and do it."

A sneak preview

When Tina lived at home in Pennsylvania, she'd occasionally hit up her mother for fashion advice. "Which ones should I wear with this outfit, Mom?" she'd ask, holding up two pairs of shoes. Charlotte Galgon would consider both options, then suggest what she thought looked best.

Tina always wore the pair her mother didn't choose.

"Tina's always been different," Charlotte says. "This house is Tina."

While shoppers crowd the malls on the day after Thanksgiving, the parents of Christopher and Tina are getting an early tour of their childrens' dream house, which now has its second-floor walls framed.

On the first floor, the 5-foot Charlotte puzzles at a window placed so high she can't see out of it. Christopher and Tina explain that the windows are meant to be like picture frames, cropping unusual views of the mountain beauty that surrounds their house.

Ready for the bundle of joy

Charlotte strains to peer through another window, where a curtain has parted just slightly. She hopes the gap in the privacy screen might be a sign of an eagerly awaited arrival.

This window is at Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, where, in early December, Tina is about to give birth. It's midafternoon, and though she went into labor at 11 the night before, then left for the hospital at 5:30 this morning, the moving curtain is not followed quickly by the news everyone is anxious to hear.

Charlotte and Christopher's mother, Kay Gillespie, have spent the day in the waiting room chatting and pacing the floor. "They're going to wear out the carpet," says Bob Galgon - Charlotte's husband and Tina's father.

He made trips to the downstairs cafeteria for coffee, rolls and sandwiches. Kay knitted a scarf and addressed homemade Christmas cards. Tina's sister, Marsha Barrett, and her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Lance Barrett, traveled from Colorado Springs to join the vigil.

Christopher is with Tina throughout the labor, as is Katlen, acting as Tina's midwife. She emerges from the delivery room to offer an update.

"Tina said she wants everyone to visualize her dilating 3 centimeters in an hour," Katlen says, clapping her hands for emphasis.

Kay raises an eyebrow. "Well," she says, "above all else, Christopher and Tina are efficient and well-organized."

By 2:30 p.m., tongues are tired, and the relatives are running out of magazines to thumb through. Katlen returns to the waiting room late in the afternoon, but her enthusiasm has waned.

"Tina is pushing like crazy," she says. "She's totally exhausted." Marsha bites her lip and takes a deep breath. A nurse returns later to reassure the family that the labor is slow but sure.

After 3 1/2 hours of intense pushing, just before 6 p.m., Tina gives birth to her and Christopher's baby daughter: 7 pounds, 3 ounces. The grandmothers are ushered into the delivery room. They find Christopher in tears, and begin shedding their own. "It's quite moving," Kay says.

"She's beautiful," Christopher later tells his family in the waiting room, his eyes puffy and red. "Tina was amazing. I feel ecstatic and exhausted. At the end it was pretty traumatic for me. They used suction, and Tina was in a lot of pain, which was hard for me to watch. This was more difficult than I thought."

'She's a superstar'

Brad arrives at the hospital just in time to offer congratulations.

"I'm sure Christopher and Tina are going to feel the pressure even more, now, to finish building their nest," he tells a visitor, noting that the original construction schedule called for the home to be done by this time. It's months behind.

There's also the matter of naming their child, which they're not ready to do quite yet.

A couple of hours after the birth, Christopher and Tina welcome visitors into the delivery room. HGTV's Dream House camera focuses on the gathering. "Kinda like Julia Roberts having twins, huh?" Kay jokes.

"Even though it was a long labor," Tina says, her words coming slowly, "it was terrific."

She looks to the future, when her family lives in the new house, when her child can understand the meaning of mother's words.

"I'm going to tell her we worked together and it was just amazing," Tina says. "Her dad and I were counting and talking to each other, telling her it was OK - she could come out. She's a superstar."

Christopher lifts his superstar daughter, looks into her eyes and wonders aloud.

"There'll probably come a point where I'll say, 'What do I do next?' "

dedrickj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5484