Welcome Baby Jace!

Well...looks like I've got so splain to do! 1 1/2 YEARS since I last posted!?!?! What the crazy. I blame my 3, now 4, kids! That's right. FOUR! Instead of trying to play catch up I'm just gonna start where I stand and let everyone fill in the last 1 1/2 years of my life with their imaginations. I'll give you a hint...the last 9 months I was pregnant.  Now you only have to come up with the other 9 months. Aaaanyway....Baby Jace right? He's a sweet little one. 

36 weeks. 1 1/2 weeks before he was born

This last pregnancy (and by last I might really mean LAST!!! I don't know if I can handle this anymore!!) was a rough rough rough one. I usually for the most part really like my pregnancies but this was quite easily the worst one I've had. Sorry. I sound pretty Negative Nelly.  I'm mostly saying this so when my amnesia kicks in and I think I want to have another one I can look back and remember that mentally, physically and emotionally I was a mess. I won't go into the details because that's boring but really, there were days I thought the only good thing about this pregnancy was that there was the promise of a sweet little baby at the end. (and boy is he sweet!!)

I don't know if it was because the worst times (beginning and end) were both during tax seasons, or just because I had 3 other kiddos to work around, or 4 babies being grown in one body does some damage, or maybe I'm just getting older (I turned 30 during this pregnancy. I'm like, ANCIENT now!! winky face because I know lots of you are rolling your old eyes right now) Probably a little mixture of it all. Luckly the amazing baby Jace and how much I love him made it all worth it.

I got pregnant at the endish of January, due October 13 (October 15 is a giant tax deadline. Like THE deadline for everything this year. oops on our planning. And we really did plan!) I was so SO sick the first 14 weeks, which were smack dab at the worst time of Tax season. Like lay on the couch and can't move sick. And I was. so. tired. So my house was a mess. But it was ok. because everyone survived.

Then, though I was still really tired, I got lots better sick wise, and turned 30 years old, and tax season ended so I had a husband again, and life was second trimester ok. Then Rusty started being busy again in the beginning of July and was so until we had the little guy. And that's the lowdown of the pregnancy

But  the reason we are all here!! The baby story!!!

The Baby Story

Little Jacers was born on Sept 28, 2016. That's 15 days early!  But to be honest I was worried he would come a lot sooner! There were many factors that I think caused the slippery slope that was his early arrival.

#1 My general lack of a husband. I love my husband and we love his job and company he works for. But SOMEtimes, like when I'm 9 months pregnant, I don't love his busy tax season hours. Tax season is not just in April. THE final deadline for all extensions and procrastinators is on Oct 15. I honestly think the stress of him not being home the last really 3 months of this pregnancy played a big part. (although he was awesome and tried to come home for bedtime twice a week then worked from home afterwards) BEDTIME! uggg! It's stressful enough, and balancing doing it on my own, with 3 kids and a big giant pregnant me play a big roll which I think caused....

#2 The Braxtons
I always have braxton hicks with my pregnancies and they're usually pretty random. But for the last probably 2 months of this pregnancy I had them all day everyday. They usually didn't hurt, just a lot of pressure, but they were there. and sometimes pretty close together for a few hours. At 35 weeks they had been getting even stronger and longer and more frequent and at my apt I was getting the fun strep test swab thing and because of all of my contractions and since she was down there anyway my doc decided to check to see if I was progressing.  I was dilated to a 3!!! And like 80% effaced! at 35 weeks! usually at 38 I'm maybe a 2. Maybe.  So I went home from that apt pretty sure I was having a baby tomorrow. And then the next week and a half went by, contracting every day, and at my apt I was still a 3. So then I thought "huh...now what?" I was scheduled to be induced on Oct 7 (39 weeks) and I though "well, maybe we will make it to that day after all!" But then this happened.....

#3 The Tornado!!!!
Lots of you, especially those who live in Utah, know that on Thurs Sept 22 there was a freaking tornado in Ogden! I live in Layton which is just a few miles away.
Conner had a scheduled 6 month check up with his allegorist who was in Bountiful at 4:30 that day. Why is this important? Well, the tornado touched down at 3:40ish and boy was it scary! The wind was blowing like crazy and it was raining the most sideways rain I had ever seen. I was talking to my friend Traci on the phone. She was asking if I was still planning on going with this crazy weather when all of the sudden the sky went so dark. It almost had a brownish greenish tint to it and Traci said "Oh my gosh. I'm from Texas. are we having a tornado?!? I'm taking my kids to a bathroom" so we followed suit. It lasted for just a few minutes and then the sky started to clear up. At this time I didn't know if it really was a tornado or not but I called the doc in Bountiful to see what the weather was like there so we weren't chasing the storm and they said it was fine. I reeeally didn't want to reschedule his apt because the doc is always like 2 months out and I didn't want to have to deal with it after the baby, so knowing nothing about tornadoes and micro burst winds happening and the sky starting to clear up I decided to take Conner to the doctor.
My first clue that I probably shouldn't go was, remember my friend Traci? When I went to drop off my kids at her house her trampoline was in her front yard. Upside down. But I still went.  Then I should have turned around when on our way power lines were all over the road and 100 year old pine trees had fallen like dominoes. Roots and all sticking up in the air. It was like a war zone! And I'm not trying to be dramatic. IT was nuts! But it was almost easier to keep moving forward than to figure out turn around and go home.

The storm rolling in. My across the street neighbors view from her backyard!!! look how clear it was then BAM! Storm!

Here's a tree from a neighbors house. Photo cred Liz Stevenson

What fences looked like everywhere (thankfully not ours!)

Photo creds Lacie Goddard

Miraculously we were only 5 minutes late for our 4:30 apt. and had it, talked to the doc (who said he heard there in fact WAS a tornado) and went on our merry way. By now the sky was super cleared up and I thought all I would have to worry about was rush hour traffic on the freeway. I knew to avoid the street close to my house that was a war zone so I thought to bypass and take main to the other end of the town which was a BAD idea. Some, but not all, traffic lights were out and by the time I realized that the light I was heading to was out, it was too late. I was too boxed in to turn onto a non-stoplight street and I was stuck in a power out 4 way stop on main street for over an hour. (antelope and main for people who know what that means. BUSY intersections for those who don't know) What does this have to do with my this here birth story?? Well first of all 9 month pregnant ladies and 6 year old little boys (who was a champ I might add) were NOT meant to be strapped in a car for 2 hours straight without stretching their legs at least! And without a bottle of water. I was so cramped and needing to change positions and so dehydrated that I started having contractions. Like BAD ones. Like I was pretty sure I was going to have a baby in the middle of a traffic jam after a tornado and can't get to a hospital bad ones.

Taken 2 days earlier to show Rusty how ridiculously tight it is for short people to drive while pregnant. No wiggle room

But luckily around 7:30 I made it back to Traci's who had dinner ready for us and had already fed my kids and husband who had gone to pick them after work (he had his own adventure getting home but he was faster than me)  bless her little beating heart. She would want me to say that she's not that amazing because it was spaghetti noodles and cold sauce from the jar. But Traci, if you're reading this, it WAS amazing. When I got out of the car and stretched and drank 2 giant glasses of water the contractions stopped and all was well. Untill....

#4 The Fall
Sun Sept 25. We went to church on Sunday a few days after the storm. Our church is super old school. I don't know how old it is. Probably 200 years old or something. Really probably not. But it's old enough that it's kind of stinky and has lots of stairs and a stage in the cultural hall.  Since our ward is HUGE and since we are never ever right on time we always sit in the back by said stage in said cultural hall. And Landon sure loves that as you can imagine. At some point I was helping Sophie get a drink and by the fountain are the stairs to the stage. Landon followed us and ran up the stairs like any 2 year old would do so I ran up to get him and carried him down the stairs. Just at the exact moment I was carrying him down the stairs with 2 steps left to go, my awesome sciatic nerve decided to shoot down my leg and my leg gave out on me. Since I was holding Landon with both arms I couldn't grab onto anything to steady myself without dropping him so I landed all my weight on my other leg. I still fell but not as hard as I would have but I sprained my knee in the process. which HURT! ouch. It was just outside the doors so I leaned over and tried to communicate telepathically through my eyes for Rusty to look over at me. The people sitting in front of him saw first and jumped up which got his attention and they all ran over. I was super scared because I just fell down the stairs pregnant, was slightly embarrassed and ouch my knee hurt! Add that with general pregnant hormones and I just started crying. Luckily just a little bit and not ugly crying. The rest of church was cancelled so that people could help with storm clean up so thankfully I didn't have to explain to umpteen different people why I was crying, and  I went home and iced it and rested. I told Rusty to go help and that I'd be fine and I was thanks to my little Doctor Conner! He was so cute and helpful! That and the fact that Landon went down for a nap. Anyway, it seemed that the fall had no lasting affects on the baby and all was well until....

#5 The Doc apt
Mon Sept 26. I had an apt the next very day in the morning. I check my blood pressure everyday while I'm pregnant because I had pre eclampsia at the end with Conner and high BP is a big sign of that. I checked it before my apt and it was so high. like 142/101 (120/80 is normal. 140/90 in preggos is alarming) What?!?! So I took it again and it was still just as high. Oh great. Now I'm stressed and pretty sure I have pre E again! I threw my hospital bag in the car since I was pretty sure I was staying to have a baby that day. At the docs it wasn't quite that high. Still high but in the perimeters of safe. (130something/80something can't remember exactly) But there was a little protein in my urine.(another pre E sign) but not enough to be worried. or something. But now I was dilated to a 4. So all that stressful crazy week didn't a little bit of something! Oh, and I was still consistently inconstantly contracting. being at a 4 my doc is pretty sure I'm not going to make it to my induction date. Well duh. And I really thought it was close because that night I had...

#6 False Labor!
Yeppers. I went to bed that night and was woken up around 11 by ouchy contractions. I started timing them after a while and while they were pretty irregular (10 min, then 4 min. then 7 min etc) they were sure painful! So I laid there timing them, and googling what real labor actually feels like, and squeeezing sleeping Rusty's arm during the bad ones (he never woke up by the way) until about 2am when I finally really woke him up and said "I don't really know what's going on....but something is." We talked about whether or not to go in and who to call to come be with the kids. It was serious enough that Rusty started throwing random things in a bag and put on pants. But then the contractions started lessening and getting further apart and so we decided to call it and wait a little longer. They eventually went away completely(ish) after a soak in the tub and I was able to go to sleep. Which was good because I didn't want a baby that day anyway because of...

#7 The Birthday Party!
September 27: Sophie's 4th birthday!

Soph and her cake she helped make! Not up to my usual standards, but hey! I was in Labor so it looks pretty good considering!

Throught the day I had my usual braxton hicks, some painful, some not at all so we went ahead with Sophie's (not so) grad birthday party! We originally were thinking of going to the living planet aquarium for this momentous day but with me spraining my knee and general in laborness we decided to keep it local. Especially because of our false alarm the night before! Rusty got home from work around 4 and we went to a park for about an hour. I sat on a bench and watched everyone play with daddy.


Then it was off to Soph's resturant of choice: Chuck E Cheese!!! of course.

Last picture of ma belly

that was where the fun really began. Sophie wanted me to hang out with her so I'd get a ride going for her and then find a table, or an adjacent ride to sit down on so I could breathe through a contraction.  This went on for a while. Some were pretty bad. and some just sort of bad so I had convinced myself that it was false labor again since some weren't as painful as others. And according to dr Google, they only get worse in real labor.

Sophie totally freaked out by the giant mouse passing out free tickets.

Rusty's parents met up with us at CC and later we headed back to our house for presents and cake and icecream. I was still contracting, still thinking it was pretend (for some weird reason), and still in a lot of pain.

Opening Grammy and Poppy's present

yay Sophie got a GIRL bike! Sorry the pictures are really bad. I was labor remember?

Rusty's parents got ready to go and asked if they, or at least his mom, needed to stay. "No, I'm fine " I said "This is totally not real. I'm sure it will go away like last night" so off they went. Looking back I don't know how I didn't know it was real! Sure I'd never "gone into labor" before. But really. I would be walking around and have to stop and lean my head against a wall to let the contraction pass. At one point I collapsed on the couch and Sweet Sophie came and jumped on me to give a hug because I looked sad and both me and Rusty yelled "no no!!" which totally made her cry.
The YW came by to collect for pennies by the inch and Rusty was chit chatting with the girls and the leader and I went to see what was going on. Apparently I didn't look so hot because one girl asked "are you ok?" Me: "Oh I don't know. I think I'm in labor" but I was only partly serious. The leader said "Oh my goodness! If you go into labor tonight and need someone to watch your kids call me! I'm serious!"  And off they went.
   We got everyone to bed, me having to stop in the middle of songs to breath through  contractions. When I did this with Landon he would sit up and say "bonk?" even he knew it hurt and was cutely concerned! But I still didn't think it was real.  Around 8:30 when everyone was finally in bed I decided to take a bath since it helped calm things down the night before. I still didn't think anything was real. My mom called while I was in the tub and I talked to her for a while, stopping every 5 min or so to have a contraction. She told me she didn't think it was fake and I said "Oh it is. I'm fine." By 9:30 I told Rusty I think we should maybe at least call. "You just THINK?" he asked. Ok, we should call. I called the hospital and they said that they can't say anything over the phone and to call my doctor. So I called the doc office and since it was after hours I got a recording that said they can't say anything over the phone and to go in if I thought I was in labor. Very helpful. I still wasn't sure (because apparently I'm stupid) but told Rusty I think we should maybe go in. "You just THINK?" he asked again. Ok, we should go in. So we called Jenni the YW leader and I held her hand through a few contractions (which were now like 3-4 min apart) while Rusty finished packing the car and off we went to have....

#7 The BABY!!!!
A few days before all of this my friend had just told me a story about how with her last baby  she waited so long to leave and got to the hospital and had the baby standing up while she was getting into the bed. Cutting it a little close! While driving to the hospital 20 min away that is all I could think about even though a dumb part of me still wasn't sure if it was real. We called my mom (and by we I mean Rusty) on the way and said that we might have a baby (my words. Still in denial I guess) and she MIGHT have to come up tonight. She told me later she was packing a bag as soon as I hung up since she was pretty sure it was real. By the time we got to the hospital contractions were about 2-3 min apart and Rusty had no feeling in his right hand.


We got there about 10:30. We parked and he ran in to get a wheel chair and I attempted to follow him very slowly, leaning on cars during contractions. He met me about half way and wheeled me into the ER (since it was after hours)  Contractions seemed even closer by now but I had stopped timing them after we got to the hospital. They got me in a bed and checked me and I was at a 7! NOW I was convinced that it was real. Nobody was even sure if we would even have time for an epidural! But the nice little epidural guy (also known as an anesthesiologist) came and I hadn't progressed in the last 15 min so off he went poking me in the back. Can I just say I love epidurals? Good job you women who opt to do it natural. But me? I've done it once with out and I can honestly say I like my drugs.
So there we were, 11:30ish, just hanging out hoping and praying we can make it 30 more minutes so this baby and Soph don't have to share a birthday. The nurse was awesome and did everything she could to stall, including stalling the doc from breaking my water. Doc broke my water around 11:50 and the nurse put me in this weird lay on side legs crossed position that is supposed to help things move a long faster, and then at 12:00 we had a little "woohoo" celebration that we made it to the next day.
We hung out some more and at 12:30 she checked me and I was ready to go! But the doc was taking a few min to get there and with an epidural you can just wait so I didn't start pushing until about 12:45. One contraction and 3 pushes later little Jace Todd Hansen (Todd after Rusty's dad Chris L Todd Hansen) was born!!! 12:49AM, 5lb 13 oz, 19 inches long.
And that was that.

waiting for him to come. After the epidural. obviousuly.

Recovering in the hospital was honestly like a vacation! Me and Rusty joked that we were getting more sleep after having a baby than we ever did before! haha. Our cute crazy little kids came and visited the next day...or I guess later that day...with my mom who had come in the middle of the night to be there with them. (Thanks mom!!!) so here's some pictures of the kids meeting their littlest bro!

we did have sweet moments, but let's be honest, most of the times was spent like this...

First family of SIX picture!

Building a fort with daddy's bed

Rusty's parents came to visit later that night.

We went home on Friday Sept 30. Rusty was awesome and cleaned the whole house while I cuddled with this baby. Then Sunday my parents brought the crazies back and life was going to really start!

Grandma and Papa P

2 weeks old. Little Landon  is starting to like him!

one of the few times Jace has been on the floor (with everyone awake) I seriously fear for his life every time.

Sophie LOVES this baby!

the nursery

)

And there ya have it! It's deffinately hectic around here, but not even close to how crazy I thought it would be so all is well! I think once you have 3 things are just nuts anyway so it's like what's one more?? Or something. Despite the new baby learning curve I feel so much more like myself again which is SO nice! But we love baby Jace. He is so sweet and cute and cuddly. At 6 weeks he is already sleeping through the night, only waking up once around 3 to eat  He's so chill, hardly every spits up, is a champion burper, and has only had like 2 blowouts in whis whole little 6 week life (and they weren't even that bad of ones!) I hope I didn't just jinx things by saying all of this out loud. He is perfect and I couldn't imagine my life or family without him!