Graydon Johs Pace

Graydon Johs Pace

March 21, 2011

10:04 AM

7lbs 3oz

19.5"

My due date was March 26th, but my doctor decided she would induce me on March 21. For the whole week or two before I thought for sure my water would break at any second. So I've my hospital bags all packed and ready to go for about a month anticipating this. Also my Dr. and Anne Marie (mother-in-law) were out of town for the whole week before my induction, so I thought for sure it would happen then.

Sunday the 20 rolls around, we came home from Sunday dinner and I got the dishes done, and laundry folded and straightened some other things. Said my goodbyes to the kids when I put them to bed (cried with Tucker...he is the sweetest boy!!) And was all ready to go.

Daniel was downstairs playing the Xbox, his new favorite hobby, and I was laying on our bed watching a show. Suddenly my water broke, at 11:40 PM and I jumped up so fast to run to the bathroom (luckily grabbing my cell phone) because as many of you know, when my water breaks...it goes everywhere!! This time was no different. Every thing was soaked in a matter of seconds. I called our home phone 4 times, before Daniel "found" it and answered it. :) Good thing I had my cell phone because he was in the middle of his best game yet, and it could have been a hours before he came up the stairs to find me. :)

Then we called Anne Marie who quickly got dressed and came over. She stayed the night with the kids while we headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital about 12:10 AM. They got us into our room, and I had the IV of pitocin started by 1:15 AM and got my epidural about 2:00 AM. Things were moving along very quickly which was nice.

The baby's heart beat was dropping when they had moved the pitocin up to 5, so they brought it back down and continued to put me in a series of uncomfortable positions to make the baby more comfortable. This was fine, cause I my legs were starting to numb up nicely, so soon i wouldn't be so uncomfortable, right? Wrong!!! Starting about 4:30 AM my hip and leg that I was laying on started to hurt more and more and I was hoping a nurse would come in very soon. Finely at 5:00, she did, and I told her I was uncomfortable, and so she rolled me to the other side. After she left, I realized I was starting to feel contractions. I felt every contraction, and started to gain all feeling back in my legs, until another nurse came in at 6:00. I was pushing the epidural button like crazy, cause I could no longer see the clock to just do it every 20 minutes. I told the nurse I had all feeling back and that I was feeling the contractions, and asked if the machine was even on. She looked closely and realized it wasn't, and went to get the anithesiologist.

Turns out he had not plugged in and programed the machine which gives you a continuous drip. So all I had was the starter dose, which had worn off. He got it all set up, and soon I was numb again and ready to go.

By 7:00 AM I was dilated to a 5 and progressing quickly. Anne Marie had just shown up, and Annalisa was now at home with the kids.

I think at 9:15ish, I was dilated to a 10 and the baby had dropped (which has not happened with my last two). My doctor came in by about 9:30 AM. And at 10:04AM Graydon was born.

His middle name is Johs (pronounced "yoos") This is after Daniel's Grandpa John Langeland, who is from Norway. His name was Johannas, and after moving to the states, changed it to John. His wife, Edna, still always called him Johs, which is just short for Johannas. I've heard lots of stories that include Edna calling out "Johs" over the years, and so in memory of Grandpa Langeland who died this last July, we decided on Johs for the middle name.

Tucker's Antibiotic Allergy

This is more of a medical "note-to-self" post...feel free to skip.

Friday morning Tucker told me that he had been itching his ears and neck in his bed that morning. So I had him lift his shirt up, and he had rash all over. I called the nurse and we decided it must be the Cefdinir he was on for his double ear infections from the week before.








He only had one more dose of it, so the nurse had me give him that last dose Friday night, just to see if that was what he was allergic to.














The rash from the first day was significantly better, but there were all new breakouts that were even worse on Saturday, from the last dose Friday night. Sunday his feet were so swollen he stayed home from church, cause he couldn't get his church shoes on. So I scheduled a doctors appt for Monday morning, thinking I could take him in, and then go be induced (since its all at the same hospital).

That didn't work out as planned, but my sister-in-law, Annalisa was able to take him and his ears are all cleared up, and they have noted the allergy.

Today is Tuesday, and I guess last night he was crying and not wanting to walk because his knees and ankles hurt so bad. Today those are better, and his rash has cleared up on other parts of his body, but his wrists hurt. We're hoping by tomorrow we'll see improvement all over and it will be gone.

UPDATE: Tucker had a birthday party for a neighbor friend today, that Daniel took him to. Daniel wrote down his cell phone number for Tucker to be able to call him to come walk him home after the party. About 25 minutes into the party, Tucker called and asked Daniel to come get him, so he did. We both talked to him (me over the phone) trying to figure out why he wanted to come home. We couldn't really ever get a straight answer.

Later in the evening, Daniel brought the kids down to visit Graydon and I at the hospital. It broke my heart when I saw Tucker. He was walking so awkwardly, because of his joints being so sore from the allergic reaction. There was still more rash on his belly and legs and feet. He went to the bathroom, and could only use one hand to pull up his pants, cause his thumb is so swollen. I finally asked him if this was why he left the party today, cause he felt uncomfortable not being able to walk right, and he said yes.

Luckily I saw my pediatrician today, when she was checking Graydon, she gave me her cell phone number and told me to call if I wanted her to call in steroids for Tucker to stop the reaction, so I did. He'll be starting those tomorrow. I just want this to be done!!

Our little pooper-scooper

Tucker saw a commercial this morning for "stealth rides" and immediately had to have us look them up online for him, so he could learn all about them. Then he just had to have one....TODAY! So we discussed ways that he could earn half the money to buy one. (they're $25) He had $2 he earned this week from helping Dad outside. And if he would read his two books he's passed off at preschool to Grandma Pace, she would pay him $2. I came up with the chore of scooping up a winter's worth of Ginger's poop in the yard, and I would pay him $5. So after much complaining he finally realized this was his best option. I of course had to go out with him, and I held the shovel part while he raked the poop. Daniel came out and said that Tucker should be doing both parts, to earn his money. So I left him to show Tucker how to do it. When I came back, Daniel was doing it all and Tucker was playing on the swings. Apparently Tucker was too slow. :) Then we came up with the idea of putting the newspaper bag on his hand and having him pick up the poop. There still was a lot but we got it all!!


So now Tucker had earned enough that he could get his "stealth rides" (Okay, yeah he should have earned $3 to be half...but parenting is exhausting. And I lucked out and it was on sale at Target for $23, so close enough!)

First he had to come with me to my pedicure:



(And there's the belly. 38 weeks today...so any day now)

And here's the proud new owner of a stealth ride:

Bedtime

Sometimes when we put Nora Jane to bed, and she's just not ready, she'll throw a fit for a few hours. She throws dishes from her kitchen, all the furniture and people out of her doll house, knocks all the books off the shelves...and sometimes strips off her pajamas. By the time we go in to remedy the situation, she is an ice cube and cries that she's freezing and brings us her pajamas to put back on.

Well last night she didn't make a peep. Just went right to bed...so we thought. By the time we were heading upstairs to go to bed, I noticed her light was on in her bedroom. I went in to find this:













No pajamas, pillow and blankets on floor, and stethoscope around her neck. Sound asleep!

Shopping with Nora Jane

Shopping with this little girl is sometimes what I always dreamed shopping with a little girl would be like. Here's two recent examples of this.



On this particular day, we went shopping with my sister-in-law, Annalisa and her little girl Emme. As we were loading all the strollers and carseats into Annalisa's car, Nora Jane wanted to make sure I loaded her stroller for her dolly. At first I thought this was going to be disastrous, but it turned out to be so fun. She acted like she was just one of the mommies, pushing her stroller, and she acted so mature and stayed right with me.

At one point she went running clear across the mall, because she spotted a picture of Ariel. She was so excited! It was so cute I had to take a picture.



Here we were at Old Navy, and she found this hat, and came around the rack to show me, and posed just like this. I don't know where exactly all this personality comes from...but it makes life really fun!



After Old Navy, we headed to Target, wearing the hat of course! She came across this lovely nightgown. I knew we were headed for a meltdown at this point, when I wasn't going to buy it for her. Finally, I decided to try a little trick that works with Tucker. Whenever he wants something really bad, I tell him we can take a picture of it, to remember it when it's his birthday or Christmas. So I told Nora Jane we could take a picture, text it to grandma Pace and ask her to get it for her birthday. Worked like a charm! What she doesn't know is that my text said that if grandma bought this for her, she may not be invited to the birthday party. :)