Birth Stories ~ Keaton

We hadn't been on any type of birth control ... we didn't think it was necessary, as I was still nursing, and hadn't had a period and we'd had to "work" at the last to pregnancies. We'd have to rethink that policy! I was pretty overwhelmed at the thought of another baby so soon. As far as the pregnancy, I did have a few of my dizzy spells. Church really seemed to bring them on (maybe the type of seats or something?) but little Callahan was such a good little boy, I could hurry and hand him off to a friend and lay down. At this point Grayson was in the Bishopric, but the Petersons, an older couple always sat with me and the boys to help out. I actually felt pretty good during the pregnancy, and we even hit the beach and went camping during the summer, until my doctor reminded me of the early arrival of baby #2 and suggested we stay closer to home near the end.

I'd had to switch doctors. Dr. Hull had been in an accident. Just a backyard trampoline, but he was paralyzed. My new doctor was a woman, Kathleen Langer, and I liked her a lot. She found an alternative to the nasty glucose drink ... a king-sized Snickers bar. It was actually a little hard to down in a limited time frame and without anything to wash it down after. Still very preferable though!

We had found out it was another boy. He was due September 5 ... which had also been Landon's due date. On August 30th, the day before Keaton came, Grayson had a really bad Meniere's attack. One of his worst. He was super sick that night, but had recovered enough to go to work the next day. I had a doctor's appointment and had a neighbor watching the two little boys. I had been feeling some twinges, and I was actually far enough along that my doctor asked "do you want to walk over to admitting right now?" but I said I hadn't really made plans for the little boys longer than an hour, and preferred to be home until I felt further along. As I left, she said "see you later! Today!" I got home, collected the boys, and called a teenage gal in the ward that I'd had my eye on for babysitting and had her "on call". I let Grayson know, and he headed home. It was Grandpa Norman's birthday, and Mom&Dad were heading to lunch with them and I told them it would probably be today, but still a few hours away. I was home for a few hours before the contractions started to be closer together and getting painful, so we headed to the hospital. I remember Gary Peterson (the one who sat with us during Sacrament meeting, and had come over last night to give Gray a blessing) saw us driving down the street and waved us over to chat, to check on Gray ... and the chatting went on a little longer than I was wanting. In labor here! We gotta go!

We got checked in, my doctor was there checking to see if I'd come in yet. They checked me, and I was an 8, and the nurse joked "how do you feel about a natural birth?" I was able to get the epidural and have it kick in, although it took the anesthesiologist a couple of tries, and even though I didn't feel cold, I was shaking. My folks were the first to make it there, followed shortly by Pam, Courtney (welcome to the family Courtney! She'd just married in earlier in August) and Olivia. The birth was easy, I think I only had to push a few times before Keaton popped out. Same weight as Landon (7 pounds 11 ounces) and the longest of the three boys, at 20 1/2 inches.

Keaton was a good baby, and the transition to three kids wasn't as hard as one might expect (the kids outnumbering the parents at this point). Ironically, whenever we went somewhere, Callahan would fall asleep, while baby Keaton wouldn't (you'd think the baby would sleep the most). We had to transition Callahan a little early from his bottle he's left laying around (as he'd stopped nursing at 10months) when little Keaton got a hold of it, and had a reaction to the milk. Keaton had a few allergic reactions, we had to watch what he ate and drank to monitor that (eggs, pasta, even steak?) He seemed to outgrow most (although he had a nut allergy later in life). He was a happy baby who got along with his brothers. He liked the family bed, and would stroke mommy's silky jammies, and kick daddy during the night.

We enjoyed life with three boys, enough that Grayson said "should we have another?" and without even really trying ... we were pregnant again. Countdown to Cooper ...