January ‘01
*Additional notes may appear in italics after my mom’s initial journal entries.
A ladybug means you should check the comments at the bottom of the page to see what Mom has chimed in on after reading these!
Jan 6, Saturday, 2001
San Carlos
Drayden James Rowell
12:04 pm
20 ¾ inches long
7lb 10oz
I was a nervous wreck before the day was over. I talked to Goon twice in the morning, she was getting real tired, I could tell. Called twice later, could not talk to her once in O.R. and no one could tell us anything. Finally got through to Sylvia and Shine called later.
*The combo of nerves and excitement that night was pretty intense. I was so excited for my sister, but really wished we were there. Mom wanted to be there with and for Peggy, and felt bad that we weren’t. But everything turned out ok and our anxieties turned to relief and excitement once Drayden arrived safely.
Drayden is now 25 years old and lives in Utah. He is such a sweetheart and loves to make people smile and laugh. He actually just called me the other night and we had a great 3-hour chat! I sure do love that kid.
January 8th, Monday
San Carlos
Happy 25th B-Day to Danielle.
Clouded up today.
Talked to Peggy, she’s pretty sore and extremely tired. She will probably go home Tuesday.
Following is the email Caleb sent with details:
KB7ZIK@K6IXA
“Well, I’m back to work! The baby is doing fine, with Mom in the hospital. They will most likely hold her till Tuesday. Well, here is a summary of what happened in case there are any confusions. Water was broke at 8:15 on the 5th, labor started right away. Early on the 6th she was still at 7, talked about checking her in an hour. If she had not dilated anymore, they would do a c-section. Came back in an hour and she was at 8. A few more hours, she came out at 9 to 10. Pushed for about 2 hours, no movement in the baby, just did not want to come down anymore. Got second opinion from Dr. Hunter. Took her to the O.R. at about 11:00. Gave her a big dose of epidural stuff, still did not numb her up, gave her more, still did not work. Put her under. Baby came out at 12:04. He had a bowel movement inside of Peg. They have to suck all the waste out of him, then put him on oxygen, and give him some antibiotics. They started him out at about 60% oxygen, then weened him down to 22% the same amount in normal air. Peg got the baby for the first time at about 7:00 pm on the 6th. They took her off of the heavy drugs yesterday, they are now giving her some other stuff for the pain. She is walking around a little. We had the baby all day yesterday, Daddy had to change his first ever diaper. Drayden is now feeding better, and hanging with Peg for today. Also, when he came out, he had a scraped, flat, red nose. It’s starting to go away, and regain its shape. His head also had a BIG dent in the back, with a big knot below it. That is also going away. He has big feet and his bottom lip is indented. Everyone said he’s a keeper, I’ll have to agree with them. Well, time to go back to work, I’ll be in tomorrow also, I’ll give you an update then. I have some film developed; I just have to scan it.”
*I talked to Peggy about this today - she explained that Drayden had turned himself sideways in the womb and that’s why he wasn’t making any progress and why he came out with a scraped nose, knots and indents - poor guy! He was being pushed up against her pubic bone the whole time. And poor Peg - 27 hours of labor, sheesh! Drayden likes to tell her it’s because she made it so comfy and cozy in there that he wasn’t ready to leave yet.
January 9, Tuesday
We left San Carlos at 5 am along with Bob, to drive to Nogales to pick up 4 new batteries for Bob and for the 3 of us to renew our VISAs and van tags. Now we’re ok until we leave in May.
Nice enough, only 15 minutes wait on US border. Fast trip into WalMart and Safeway. Lunch at Carl’s Jr. – green light – 21k, also green light. Drove through clouds all day, cold in Nogales. Rain and hail on drive home. Only took 12.5 hours – home at 5:30 pm.
Gail, Priority, and Cynthia, Storm Haven, came over to walk Seager. He was so glad to see us home again.
January 10, Wednesday
Caleb sent pictures of Drayden to our Hotmail. We went in to the internet café to download it. Hard to tell much – but he looks like a sweet one – and big like Chase was.
Chelle called; Jeremy is starting to walk – a month tomorrow. Schyler told us he lost his front tooth (first one) and he got $5.00 for it!
Oh, John had to put in a completely new toilet today. $300 U.S.
We disconnected the cell phone; we figured it cost us $300 US for 2 months. Long story- but it’s gone. Thank goodness for email.
*$5 for a tooth?! Dang - we sure came a long ways from a quarter! Wonder what the going rate is now-a-days?!
January 18, Thursday
We checked out for the last time Saturday the 13th and of course it started HOWLING. Jim and Gail did leave Monday night, but now there are in Chivato with howling wind. Glad we stayed. Their ride over was not the best, 11 hours normal took 14 hours.
John and Gene, Sun Bear, took apart our laptop to fix a broken hinge – don’t know if it will last the rest of the season. Gene is loaning us their spare.
Sam and I watched The Perfect Storm last night as it howled 20-25k and the boat rocked here in the slip.
*I’m going to take this moment to add in a photo of Seager HOWLING, like the wind was that day. We loved howling with Seager, and I added a photo from 2004 of us doing just that. It’d be so cute cause one of us would start up and he’d get excited and then all four of us would be howling together for a few minutes. We sure did have fun with our Seager Boy!
January 20, Saturday
San Carlos
Happy B-Day Janelle
Storm Haven was put back in the water and came around to Marina Real this morning. I called Goon, all is well with them. Caleb will try to figure out why none of his emails are getting through to us.
Calmer today, 15k late afternoon. Jim and Gail, Priority, said they moved from Chivato to Pulpito and had 15-20 k with 3 to 5 foot seas – glad we aren’t leaving today, as was planned.
Clinton is gone – Bush is in.
January 21, Sunday
John and Gene, Sun Bear, spent the morning getting Storm Haven’s batteries all hooked up.
Talked to Kelly on Refuge at 11 am, they were an hour out – fairly calm and 10k – so we got it together and left the break water at 12:30 pm.
Finally out – Seager was kinda green for the first 4 hours or so. He puked 3 times before it calmed down a little and he got his sea legs.
Seas smoothed out, nothing over 14k W – most of the trip 10k.
January 22, Monday
We came into Escondido and anchored at 8:30 am – 20-hour trip, nice.
Seager never did pee until after we anchored, he found the mat and went for at least two minutes.
*Seager’s poor bladder! I remember this - we could not believe how long he went for. He must have been so confused with all this new stuff going on!
January 24, Wednesday
Happy Hour on Priority, Marty and Taska, Cloud Nine, also here. Taska looks wonderful – last year she battled lymphoma cancer. For now she is 100% ok.
January 27, Saturday
Escondido
We had Priority, Cloud Nine, and Darryl, Princess Erika over last night – nice visit.
Cloud Nine, Marty and Taska left this morning for Agua Verde. Heard them on the radio – they had 25 SW all day, as a front went through. In here at Escondido, we didn’t get over 12k SW – so hope as tonight wears on and it switches to the NW we won’t have much either.
Talked to Bob, Storm Haven, at 5 pm on 3838, they were just going into Pulpito – they left San Carlos at 4:30 am and had 20/25k SW all the way. Don’t know if Bert, Island Woman, left as planned or not.
When the clouds rolled in today, they sat over the mountain in a fog – pretty. We did get a few sprinkles, but only a few.
Seager is starting to get the hang of using his pee mat on the deck. Although he won’t poop on it, he just goes on deck wherever.
*We had a little “grass” mat that was close to one of the scuppers along the mid-section of the boat deck, which allowed for drainage off the side. Once Seager had gone, Dad would toss our wash bucket over the side, haul it back up full of sea-water and pour it over the mat a couple times to wash away the pee. It took some time, but Seager was real good about using it after he got the hang of it.
January 28, Sunday
Bob and Cynthia, also Bert, came into Escondido around 2 pm.
January 30, Tuesday
Wind kicked in early this morning. Here it is 8:30 pm and still blowing 15-20 with the gust of 25k.
John has been taking Seager to shore once or twice a day because he won’t pee on the boat. He’ll hold it all day and night – that’s both good and not good.
Email from Chelle says Jeremy is walking everywhere. Schyler is doing better in school and will be in T-Ball again. Danielle went up to Show Low and saw Drayden.
Caleb’s email said Drayden only woke up once last night and they got 4 more inches of snow. Samie’s friend said there is 15” or so on the ground. Yuk - and I thought it was cold here.
January 31, Wednesday
Calmer today – flat tonight.
We borrowed Nutty Professor II from Storm Haven – what a crack up!
