On January 16th, 2012 I woke up not feeling right-no contractions-just off somehow. I was supposed to be induced on that Friday, but I could tell something was different. I decided to call my doctor and ask what he thought and he recommended going to the hospital to be monitored. Upon hearing his advice I decided to clean some toilets and to take the girls to the Discovery Center. Scott came with me, taking a half day, as it was Martin Luther King Day. After the Discovery Center we got some lunch at Deli George's and I decided to have Scott drop me off at the hospital and take the girls home for some quiet time. I told him I would call him as soon as I knew anything. After being hooked up to monitors for a short time the nurse told me that I was contracting sporadically-about every nine minutes and that Dr. Klomp had decided to keep me-I was going to have a baby. I always test positive for the strep B virus and for that reason am very conscientious about getting the IV penicillin in my system well before my water breaks because I know that after that point there isn't much time thankfully before I have a baby. I think my text to Scott said, "ready for a baby!" I called my mom and let her know and she took off from Malad to come help with the girls and Alice helped with them so that Scott could come to the hospital. It was very slow while I had the two doses of penicillin, Scott and I walked the halls, went up to look at the new babies, and read. At around 8:00 pm the girls came to visit me and took one last look at my belly!
At 8:30 Dr. Klomp stopped by to break my water. He also decided to put me on a little pitosin, I was dilated to a 7 already, and was a little nervous about being given some "pit" as I knew I reacted really strongly to it, and react I did. I had one long (5 minute) contraction before the nurse saw what was happening on the monitor and came running in to turn the pitosin down, but whatever pain I was in was all worth it as an hour and a half later I had a beautiful baby boy.
Here he is- John Stanley Erickson. John-my maiden name, Scott's uncle's name and Courtney's husband's name-a perfect choice. Stanley- Scott's middle name, Bob's middle name, and Scott's grandpa's name. Erickson. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 ounce, 22 inches long, and lots of bright blonde hair. For months before John was born during family prayers Cecilia prayed that John would have blonde hair like her. All of our kids have had black hair when they were born even Cecilia and we tried and tried to explain that he was probably going to have black hair and not to be disappointed. I can almost see the angels in heaven conspiring to answer Cecilia's prayers and here is proof of her faith. Our beautiful blonde baby boy. When Cecilia saw him for the first time Scott said, "Cecilia, where did he get this blonde hair?" and she said "I think from Jesus!"
I love this moment.
Here we are with our newest blessing and miracle.
Cecilia and Anna meet John for the first time.
The three blondes!
Here is Lilly with her baby brother.
Meeting Grandma Alice.
First bath.
The sign on the door that Jordan and Cecilia made for me.
Meeting Grandpa Larry
Dressing up for a day out.
My mom and sister Jordan came and helped with the kids and food and everything- I always cry when my mom leaves me after I have a baby. There is nothing like having my mother there when I need her.
When John was two weeks old, after a weekend of feeling like John was warm and fighting with him to keep him awake so that he could eat I was standing at the kitchen sink holding him when I was overwhelmed with the knowledge that something was wrong and that he needed to see a doctor right away. I called his pediatrician in tears and explained that I needed to come in right away-even if it ended up being for peace of mind as I had an appointment the next day for his check up. Dr. Beauchaine saw us right away. He wasn't running a temperature when we got there, but his weight had fallen to 6 pounds 12 ounces and Dr. Beauchaine trusted me when I said that I felt like he had been running a low temperature. She told me that she thought there might be something wrong with his kidneys and that we needed to go to the hospital. She called ahead so we wouldn't have to do the check-in and could head directly to the fourth floor. I called Scott and told him to meet me at the hospital and then called my mom, who immediately jumped in her car again to come and help. I'm not sure how anyone understood me in my traumatized state, but they did and they came.
They ran all sorts of tests on him- spinal taps, urine sample, blood work. I was awful. This is a picture of his tiny arm with his line for his iv antibiotics. When we were admitted he had a temperature of 101.
That night, after his first dose of antibiotics, I told the nurses that I thought he felt warm again. When they took his temperature underarm it was 104 degrees, so 105 degrees. They rushed to get him Tylenol and undressed him to try to get his fever down as quickly as possible. I can't tell you how blessed I am that I listened to the prompting to take him to the doctor. I don't even want to think about what I could have lost had I waited another day, or another hour before getting him where he needed to be. If we had been home when his temperature spiked and then had to travel to the hospital to be admitted--I am just so grateful for him.
John was diagnosed with a kidney infection that had spread to his blood. He was very sick. We stayed in the hospital, me sleeping on the couch with John in my arms for 11 days. The doctors have no protocol for babies this age having kidney infections because they are so rare, so they wanted to do IV drugs and that meant a long stay in the hospital. We finished with oral antibiotics and then had him tested to make sure the infection was gone-which it wasn't so we then did another 14 days of oral antibiotics of a different kind. He finally had a clean urine sample and we were so glad he could start feeling better.
Everything was so tiny-the blood pressure cuff, the IV, it was so hard to watch him be poked and prodded, but thank heaven for modern medicine and good doctors.
Here he is home from the hospital of the second time.
And here he is beautiful and healthy.
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