Week One-Three

So, we have survived our first few weeks as new parents, and are doing great! Beckett is such a joy to have and even though we are exhausted, we wouldn't trade one single minute of it!!

Our first week home was made easier because Jamie's parents came to stay with us which was an enormous help! Just having another set of hands to help with Beckett, the cooking and cleaning allowed us to settle in better. Beckett is sleeping really well during the night. We get about 5 hours of sleep which is great! He is almost back up to his birth weight and is eating like a champ.

Here is the recap of labor, delivery, etc. On November 2 at 1:15am my water broke...and there was no mistake it was my water:) We called the doctor on call, got the rest of our stuff together (dog included) and headed out to Aurora to Rush Copley Hospital. At the time I didn't think I was having contractions, but apparently I was! I just could not feel them - that didn't last for too long! For the first 4 hours I was not allowed out of bed because they weren't sure if Beckett was breech or not ,so we had to wait for the ultrasound tech who was caught up in the ER. Finally at 6am the u/s tech came in and gave us good news - Beckett was head down and pretty low, so that was good:) Dr. Ford (the on call doc) let me walk around for two hours before starting pitocin to see if I could get things started naturally.

Unfortunately, nothing happened, so pitocin was started at 8am and by 10am I was feeling the brunt of the contractions. They weren't too bad initially, so I did not have any pain medication. As the day progressed, the contractions came closer together, but I was not progressing. By 5pm I was only 1.5cm dilated and 70% effaced. At this point the contractions were coming so close together and were lasting about 1.5 minutes long. I looked at Jamie and told him there was no way I could go on like this for another possible 9+ hours. So, I requested an epidural. And yes, by this point, I was screaming/crying through contractions. Luckily I didn't have to wait long because the lovely anestheisiologist was already in L&D, so he came right in:) BTW - is there a rule that they have to wear Coke-bottle glasses? It is a bit unsettling! Anyway, it took a while to get the epidural going because my contractions were so close together. But by 5:45pm I was well on my way to happyville:) Dr. Embry (who is my obgyn) came to check in on me at 6pm and told me she thought I would be pushing by midnight. At that point I told her this baby was coming out by 11:59pm so that he could be born on my grandmother's b-day. I was determined:)

Well, we wouldn't have to wait that long. At 7pm my wonderful nurse Jen came in for one last check before shift change, and low and behold, I was 9.5cm and 100% effaced. All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity in the room as 3 people came in and started setting stuff up. Jamie called our parents who were having dinner and told them to get back to the hospital, and Jen went to call my Dr. (who is amazing btw) to come back to the hospital. Dr. Embry arrived at 8pm, said hi to the parents, kicked them out, and checked me. She had me do a couple of practice pushes and she went to get changed into her scrubs. 20 minutes and 4 contractions later, Beckett arrived and I turned into a complete sobbing mess.

After everything we had been through in the past 4 years, I could not believe that we had created this little miracle and that he was here. It was so surreal and beautiful. Jamie was equally as emotional as me, and we just kept looking at each other and at Beckett and cried. It was quite emotional. Amazing is about the best word to describe it and that doesn't do the moment justice.

Anyway, enough rambling! Beckett continues to do well and he is getting lots of visitors. This weekend he is meeting his cousin Timmy for the first time (they are about 1.5 months apart in age) which is exciting. We are looking foward to celebrating our first Thanksgiving as a family:) And how thankful we are for him!

Here are some photos from Beckett's birth (g-rated) and his first weeks at home. I kind of went crazy, so if there are too many, I apologize:)

Beckett Collage