Family Time

It's summer and that means "road trip".  This year it has also meant "baby time", as we traveled south to welcome the newest member of our little family.  Janessa and I were both able to take the time to be in St. George the week before our baby's birth and the week after he arrived - a 2-week stay!  Don't know if we've ever been able to stay that long before, but it was wonderful.  I took the time off from physical therapy and work (slow time at work now anyway) and settled in with Mom and Troy, spending lots of time at Chelsea's house, too.  We experienced the epic heat wave that has settled over the West, with temps in the low 100's, often climbing to over 110!  The little Stephenson kids were able to take advantage of the pool at Nana's complex, with Uncle Troy and Aunt Ness and their daddy as their water buddies and Grammy watching from the shade of a huge umbrella.  Chelsea was also able to get in the pool a few times before giving birth and she looked so much more comfortable, balancing that baby tummy in the weightlessness of the water.
Early in the morning of Friday, June 28, I woke up to the text message alert on my phone that said, "He's here!"  I immediately started to cry.  My sweet Chelsea had given birth, naturally, with no meds, and had seen her baby born in the water of a specialized "pool" provided by her midwife, DyAnna, right there in the comfort of her own home.  I was so proud of her and all her preparation.  Though it didn't happen exactly as she had imagined it (labor became intense before she could use most of her Hypno-Babies techniques), it was still a glorious, miraculous event.  Precious JAX ROY Stephenson was born at about 3:38 AM, weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz., and was 22 inches long!  He has a perfect little round head with lots of dark hair (his brother, Lachlan, was already proud of his "mohawk"!)  I was able to see and hold him when he was about four hours old.  Such a dear baby!  I love him tremendously already!
Those first few days after his birth were stressful and sleepless for Chelsea, who has always had a hard time getting her babies to nurse.  DyAnna insisted that "someone" (Mom!) take the older children for most of the day to allow Chelsea to get some deep, much needed sleep, so I did my best.  Of course, Robby is a wonderful dad and goes over and beyond for his kids.  I wish I could have done more so that both of them could have had some alone rest time.  But, I was grateful for the strength I did have to take care of three little ones for 5 or six hours a day for a few days.  We weren't able to spend time outside (unless there was swimming involved!), so we watched a lot of Disney movies and cartoons.  Olive and Knox were quite inventive, playing hide-n-seek in Nana's clothes closet and coming out wearing her shoes and sweaters, while Lachlan thought watching Netflix kid's shows on my iPad was the bomb.  I wish I had thought more about fixing them meals to eat or freeze, but we did a few take-out runs.  Janessa was a big help, too, picking up the slack that I didn't have the energy or the enthusiasm to do.  Aaron and Lindsey and girls were in St. George, too, and they helped by taking Lachlan swimming at their condo and paddle-boarding out on the lake!  He was one happy boy!  He does love cousin time and misses them when they're gone.  I loved how Knox called me "Nana" the whole time I was there, unless someone corrected him and said, "No, Grammy!"  We'd fill his "cup" with juice, grab his favorite "blankey", and snuggle on the couch until he fell asleep for a nap.  He wasn't much for sitting on my lap, but he'd sit by my side and then cuddle as close as possible until he was out for the count.  And both he and Olive quickly discovered that I had a good supply of gum in my purse, so they'd bring it to me at least once a day for a "big piece".  When I ran out of spearmint and only had peppermint, it was tragic.  "Too hot!" Knoxie would say.  I vowed to get bubble-gum flavored at the store, but never did.  I'll have to stock up for next time.  I love, love, loved being with them...but this was one exhausted Grammy when we'd come back to Mom's place after dropping them off for dinner or tubby time or swimming in their own backyard.  Hooray for physical therapy which gave me added strength through those two weeks...
I always hate to leave St. George.  Hate to leave Chelsea with her little herd of small ones...  Hate to leave Mom, since my visits seem to help get her out of the house and "doing"...  Hate to leave Troy who is going through a rough patch right now and needs diversions, too...  Hate to leave the hugs and kisses and "watch this, Grammy"...  Just hate it.  But, this week is Young Women's camp for Janessa and I have CT scans and an MRI on Friday.  Oh boy.  Back to real life is really the pits sometimes...  But I was happy to be with my good hubby again, who held down the fort and took care of our little dog, Einstein.  I missed both those boys, so much.  Made the coming home a little easier.
Will write again after my doctor visit on July 16 to get the results of the scans and MRI.  The tumors in my groin and in my back are much the same.  I can feel them both and I don't think they've shrunk much in the past 3 months.  I just hope and pray that no new ones have grown anywhere and that the ones in my liver have disappeared.  Pray with me, please.  It's hard to think of the future when I know there are probably treatments down the road again...  Just makes me more grateful for family time.