What did I do for three days in a hospital bed?

Grady was born at 6:08 am...just as a new day was starting.

Because of this timing and a certain positive strep test on me, Grady had to stay a full 48 hours in the hospital.

We were there all day Saturday and Sunday and didn't come home until Monday afternoon.

It was a long time and I wasn't complaining about it.

But what did I do for all that time in room H3305?

As you can tell by my chart...the only plans made were to Feed, Pee and Poop.  Thank goodness those were actually Grady's plans.

(The only concerns I had on that board involved my pain meds.)

   

Most of my time included holding and loving this little man...

...and eating.

The next best thing to having a perfect little person to love after having a baby is the food.

There is something about being post-partum that makes food taste ten times better than it normal would!

Our hospital food is remarkably good and I was allowed to order whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I think I had seven or so bowls of this stuff.

Fruit is SO much better when you don't have to wash and cut it up yourself.

After I would eat, I would stare at this perfect person.

Then I would eat some more.

Then love on Grady.

 Then order yet another milkshake.

(I won't admit how many of these I consumed.)

 In between stuffing my face and kissing my baby I would watch a total chick-flick on cable that Steve would never be caught watching with me.

It was awesome!

 At one point I told Steve, "You better get some picture of me and Grady.  Without them who knows if I was even really there?"  

(I'm the picture taker around here)

After seeing this picture I exclaimed, "Man!  When did my cheeks get so big?"

 I'm sure it had NOTHING do to with the fact I had just consumed this!

NOTHING!

Grandmas and Grandpas

We are so lucky to live in the same town as both sets of parents.

I love having both families close by to celebrate occasions like Grady's birth.

My mom came to the hospital early Saturday morning and was there for the birth.  My dad was kind enough to stay at our house with our kids overnight.

Neither of them got any rest.  I so appreciate these two!

 Grandpa Walker with his 19th grandchild.

 Grandma Walker.

 Grandpa Dixon with his 25th grandchild.

Sadly, Grandma Dixon came down with a horrible cold/flu and wasn't able to make it to the hospital.  We can't wait for her to feel better so she can meet Grady!

Grady Paul...love this face.

Family of Seven

There I said it.

We are a family of seven. 

Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Here are a few pictures of all of us together over the three days Grady and I were in the hospital.

All of us together.

Very proud dad.

 I feel that Andrew has been the most excited about Grady joining our family.

 Sadly, Andrew came down with a cold the day after Grady was born.

He has lovingly kept his distance, but I can tell it's killing him.

I'm so excited to see the relationship grow between these two.  Grady doesn't know it yet, but he has the best buddy in the world.

My five kids together.

 

Have no idea what they were talking about here, but the expressions are priceless.

...maybe Andrew is explaining circumcision????

 Enamored

Be still my heart.

Handsome holding Handsome.

(Don't ask me what was going on with this crazy hat.  Grady had a hard time on Saturday keeping his temperature up.  We tried different hats but nothing would stay on.  This one was the worst!)

 Sunday my family ditched any church responsibility and Steve spent the day at the hospital with me. 

This is mostly what he did...I slept.

 Sister love.

 Doesn't get any better than this!

On a lighter (somewhat sadder) note, Saylor struggled a little at the hospital.

Not being the youngest and getting your way all of a sudden is not an easy thing to swallow.

There were tears...

 ...lots of them.

But who could really be sad eating a ginormous bowl of lucky charms while wearing a marshmallow shirt?   Beats me.

(And yes, Saylor dressed herself.  I now know what clothes to get rid of when I'm feel like cleaning out drawers.   In Steve's defense, she was clean as a whistle...just dressed like an orphan.)

For me, I was just happy.

I'm thinking after looking at this picture though that I might be too old to have any more babies.

 

I'll just enjoy the ones I have.

Pictures

I have so many pictures I want to post and even more that I want to write about Grady's birth.

I'm home now and finding the time to do either is almost impossible.

I feel like I'm drowning...but drowning in the most beautiful amazing paradise known to mankind.

I am so happy with my family of seven.

Maybe my giddiness is all newborn baby.

Maybe it is the lack of sleep.

Maybe it's the narcotics (yes...they are so so good)

But whatever it is, if I'm are going to drown in something, it might as well be this wonderful.

Here are a few pictures of Grady at the hospital.

Yes...he really is this handsome.

(Please excuse his standard issue hospital attire...I'm not about to create more laundry than I need to.)

Announcing

Grady Paul Dixon

Saturday March 23, 2013

6:08 am

7 lbs 7oz

20 inches

Many many more pictures to come...I've already taken 437 not including the hundreds my sister took during delivery.

Taking one for the team...again

I had my final OB appointment today.

I was a little nervous my doctor would change his mind and make me wait longer to have this little man.

I told him I was afraid he would say again, "I need you to take one for the team." 

But he didn't.

He told me I had already taken one for the team and that it was time to have this baby.

My blood pressures are starting to rise and my face, feet and hands are starting to swell.

I'm being induced this Wednesday...one day earlier than I had planned.

Smiles all around.

So if I don't go into labor on my own this baby will be born on Wednesday March 27, 2013.

But tonight I'm really really hoping I will go into labor.

I'm contracting around the clock (but without being regular if that makes sense at all) and I was dilated to a three today.  I'm entering the home stretch.

My mom brought over her exercise ball tonight with strict instructions for me to sit on it.

My younger sister swears this was a large contributer to her going into labor.  I'm willing to try.

If I had my wish (if wishes were fishes we'd all have a fry) I would have this baby on Sunday March 24th.  This would have been my grandfather, Paul Dean Walker's, 89th birthday.   Grady will share his name Paul.  My grandpa was called PD most of his life.  I think it's pretty great that Grady will have the initials GPD and I could easily call him PD. 

I think it would only be fitting for them to share a birthday too.

Here's hoping my Grandpa can pull some strings in heaven and send Grady on Sunday.

Not all gluten free is created equal

My mom has a chocolate chip applesauce cookie recipe that is to die for.  It's very cake-like, light and sweet.

Yesterday, because we were feeling confident, my mom and I tried these cookies gluten free.

They were a disaster.

My mom described them as horse pucks.

(She grew up on a farm...she would know.)

They didn't taste much better than they looked either.  I would compare them to tasting like horse pucks...but luckily I've never tasted a real one to compare.

They turned out nothing like the gluten filled original.

Because we live in Idaho and my mom lives on a canyon edge...she gave my kids full permission to huck these babies as far as they could muster.

Maybe the rock chucks will like them!

The boys had a BLAST hucking cookies while I tried desperately to get a picture with my phone.  It was raining and I wasn't about to step off the porch and get wet.  

Andrew mid-throwing decided to try one.

"Hey Mom!  These aren't that bad!"

"Yes they are Andrew...quit eating and throw!"

Saylor even got into the cookie action.

Fun memories...however silly they are.

To make my mom feel better...I went home and whipped up a batch of eclairs.

I stole the rest of her gluten free domata flour so I could do so.

Steve was happy and so was my mom.

Win Win!

We'll stick to cream puffs for a while and stay clear of cake like cookies for a while.

...and just for fun...

Colby and Saylor played "Adventure-ers" last night after early baths complete with bandanna's, emergency gear, and homemade maps.

My favorite part of Colby's hand written map was "Cangarew Cave"- that's Kangaroo Cave if you can't read phonetically.

I was folding clothes on my bed- dang mirrors.