His Arrival Story
Beckett had been planning his arrival for a couple of weeks. When I went to the doctor at 38 weeks, I had already dilated 2.5cm. My doctor was sure he would come within 2-3 days, but another week went by and when I went back at 39 weeks, I was at 3cm. The night before my 39 week appointment I woke up at 11pm with sharp cramps. I headed out to the living room to time them and wondered if this was the night. I drank some water and the contractions were coming about every 5-7 minutes. After about an hour I thought I should probably call the doctor to see if I should come in, but I decided to wait alittle bit longer because I didn't want to wake anyone up, especially my mom since she would have to come over to stay with Grayson. After another half hour, they were not as intense and I was able to fall back asleep.
At my appointment the next day, we decided we would plan an induction for October 17 if he didn't make his arrival on his own. I was slightly hesitant to induce for a couple of reasons. If Beckett wasn't ready to come out, I didn't want to "evict" him regardless of how miserable I was. Plus I had read that induction could cause a more painful labor since the contractions could be much more intense. Either way, the doctor had recommended it and I trust his decisions. And it would have meant that he could guarantee he would deliver Beckett since he was not able to deliver Grayson. After my appointment, I went home to lie down. Later that evening I did what every other women does when she is merely days away from giving birth...I went and bought new bedroom furniture for us. I know it seems like an odd time, but Shane and I had looked at a set a couple of months ago and decided to wait. The furniture we have is what I had when I bought my house prior to us getting married. That day I got a sales ad in the mail and the furniture we had looked at was on sale. I did not know how long the sale would last, and when I would be able to get out again, so my mom and I headed to the store at 7pm that night and bought the furniture. It's so popular that we won't actually get it until mid November, but we aren't necessarily in a hurry.
On Wednesday I went to work for my last day. I had designated that Wednesday as my last day a couple of weeks prior so I could have a couple of days off assuming he would come closer to his Sunday due date. I worked almost a full day and left around 4pm. We had dinner as a family, bathed Grayson and I put him down around 7:30pm. About an hour later, I hopped in bed to get a full night's rest (so I thought).
Around 1am, I woke up with a contraction. It felt similar to the contractions I had Monday night but they were lasting about 1 1/2 minutes and spaced only 3-3 1/2 minutes apart. After about 30 minutes something told me I should probably call the doctor. The on-call doctor called me back and told me to go into the hospital. I then called my mom who made her way over within about 15 minutes. We headed to the hospital and got there about 3am. They took me to labor and delivery and began to ask all of the necessary questions and check my cervix. I was at 4cm. The contractions then moved to my back and I had flashbacks to my labor with Grayson which was fairly painful until I was given some demerol and an epidural. The nurse checked me about 15-20 minutes later and I was already at 5-6cm. She made a call to the anesthesiologist who was in another room but would be down soon. It was at that moment I knew I would probably be going at this without any medication. Sure enough, I was right. Within a couple of minutes the contractions were much more intense. They had barely hooked up my IV and were taking blood from my other arm for lab work when my water broke during a contraction. It had meconium in it which immediately changed the dynamic of the room. Nurses began rushing in and a NICU team came in as well. She checked my cervix again and I was at 8cm. Things moved exceptionally fast at this point. I remember the anesthesiologist coming in the room and the nurses waving her off. I was about to go at this without any medication, whatsoever. With each contraction I had the urge to push but every nurse kept telling me not to because the on-call doctor had yet to arrive. They were having a hard time finding Beckett's heartbeat on the monitor so I was given an oxygen mask. Within a few minutes, they had a hospitalist in the room who was qualified to deliver babies. I had been on my side clinging to the bed in pain with each contraction but as soon as she came in, they made me flip onto my back so we could deliver. To say the next couple of minutes were painful would be an understatement. The only thing that got me through it was knowing it would be over soon, and I had to get Beckett out for his own health. After pushing a couple of times, his head popped out and then his body and they quickly took him over to the warmer to begin cleaning out his mouth and throat. They needed to get the meconium out prior to his first cry in order to avoid it getting into his lungs. The same thing happened with Gray but it seemed much more urgent with Beckett since he had been in the womb with it longer. After they cleaned him out, they noticed he was grunting and having a hard time getting to the appropriate oxygen levels so he was given an oxygen mask and the NICU team worked with him. Shane stayed by his side while they finished working on me. Again, I have yet to get any medication so I continued to feel everything but the pain I was in was not near as bad as what I had just gone through.
After about 10 minutes, they let me give Beckett a quick kiss and they took him to the NICU to put him in an oxygen tent to see if he could begin breathing better on his own. Shane continued to stay with him to make sure he was ok. It was at this point that I found myself alone in the room for the next hour. It was sort of surreal since I had merely walked into the hospital only an hour and a half prior, gave birth to a baby and now he was being cared for in NICU. Luckily Shane was texting me while he was down there letting me know that he was doing great! About 8am, they moved me to my own room where Beckett and Shane met me. Right before they handed him to me, the pediatrician had called and requested to see him. They took him down to the nursery and quickly brought him back about 8:30am. Finally I was able to hold my sweet baby boy! Immediately I noticed so many similarities to Grayson, except Beckett had much darker hair. I then spent the next 2 days in the hospital cuddling with him as much as I could to make up for the 4 hours we were apart right after his birth.
Life Since His Arrival
Beckett has been an absolute blessing. Although it is still early, he is so much like Grayson. He eats well, he sleeps well and has been extremely easy so far. Grayson came to the hospital the day Beckett was born to meet his little brother. He was alittle hesitant at first, but I think he is warming up to having him in the house. He loves to see him and say, "Baby Beckett! Baby Beckett!" When Beckett cries, Gray will come over to help me, and usually hands me a diaper since most likely he needs to be changed. We knew Grayson would be such a great helper and he truly is. He is all about helping anytime we ask him. We are still adjusting to life as a family of 4 and find that a "man to man" coverage is best. Gray will continue to go to school during the week so it will give me time to focus on Beckett during the day and allow Gray to keep his normal routine. We are doing everything we can to make sure his routine is not disturbed. Shane is home the next two weeks, too, to help me and spend some time with his new son.
Shane and I could not be happier about our growing family. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by handsome men! Our next adventure will be Grayson's 2nd birthday party this weekend. I can't believe my "baby" is going to be two already! I'm going to have a 2 week old and a 2 year old. Our Octobers will never be the same!
Baby Beckett got his big brother a few gifts.
Gray was alittle freaked out by the room. He
went into his "shy" stance where he holds his hands
and stood by the door. It was pretty cute.
Seeing his brother for the first time!
More interested in his new Mickey book than his
little brother.
This photo warms my heart!
Being a day old is exhausting.
I plan to get as much tummy time as possible
with this one.
What does every little brother need...stickers! Gray had
just "slapped" a sticker on Beckett.
Shane's face is priceless.
Finally headed home!
Such a proud brother!
Aunt Cray Cray came by to meet the newest addition.
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