Beckett's Arrival!

Well, we did it! So happy to announce that we have another sweet little boy to love on.

Beckett made his arrival just short of the big 4-0. Let me fill you in...

Saturday, the 10th was going to be a big day for our family. For starters, I was embarassingly excited to be getting new carpet installed in the office and guest bedroom (Cash's big boy room). We had a leisurly morning, and then the carpet guy arrived around 2pm. When my mom got off of work, Cash and I met her at their house, which just so happens to be eight houses down from ours. We ran up to Ross for some aisle perusing before dinner. My dad and sister met us back at our house to decide where to go for dinner. We decided to go to CDB's for some pizza. On our way to dinner I noticed that I was starting to have some braxton hicks. This didn't really concern me as I had been having them almost nightly for the last week or two. While sitting at the dinner table, I started to have some anxiety. No reason imparticular, but I felt like labor was approaching. The day before I noticed that my lips were very chapped and dry. I mentioned to my sister that I thought it was indicitive of a hormonal change and that I thought I would go into labor within the next few days. Turns out I was right. As I was sitting at the restaurant, eating my pizza, I started thinking about all the different concerns I had about labor. Not only the concerns, but the outright fears, and also the excitement and anticipation. I could hardly eat my pizza at that point. I was a big ball of nerves, and at that point, I still had no reason to believe I was in early labor. As we left the restaurant and were walking to our cars, I looked up in the sky and saw what looked like a pretty full moon. That's when I knew I would be having a baby very soon.

My parents followed us back to our house so my mom and I could complete a photo project that we had been working on. As we sat on the couch, I started noticing that the braxton hicks were coming on a little bit stronger, and a little bit more regular. I decided to start timing them. They were coming regularly, between 3 and 7 minutes apart, but still not painful. I decided to call the doctor's office after an hour of steady braxton hicks. At my last OB appointment I was 4cm dilated (2cm at 36 wks, 3 cm at 37wks, 3.5 at 38 wks, 4cm at 39 wks) and if I was in labor, I didn't want to miss my window of opportunity to get an epidural if I decided that I wanted one. I called my doctor's offices' answering service, and left a message for the OB nurse to call me. When she did, I explained the situation and she instructed me to go to the hospital and get checked out, to see if the braxton hicks were changing my cervix at all. Everything felt like it was starting to happen. I had had my bags packed and sitting on the dining room table next to the carseat and the diaper bag. Colt had most of his stuff packed but was still collecting a few last minute things, as I was packing up the laptop and other miscellaneous items that couldn't be packed until the last minute. At this point I was still surprisingly calm. By surprisingly calm, I mean I had only thrown up twice. Haha! The night before my induction with Cash, I threw up like I had a stomach flu because of nerves. This time was better. My parents had gone home so that my mom and sister could get ready to go to the hospital with us, and so my dad could pack a few things to spend the night at our house with Cash. I had put Cash to bed about 30 minutes before all of the drama started to happen, so he was already sound asleep. Around 11:30, my dad arrived at our house. I was still wondering around our house looking for things that I needed to pack, but mostly trying not to cry at the thought of leaving Cash for the first time. He had never spent the night away from me. He had never spent more than a few hours away from me. Ever. Finally the time came for Colt and I to leave. I went into Cash's room to check on him and make sure he was comfortable before I left. Upon closing his door behind me, I lost it. I didn't want to leave him. I knew that giving him a sibling would be one of the greatest gifts that I could ever give him, but the thought of leaving him there, without me made me so very sad. I felt a little bit better knowing how obsessed he is with my dad. I knew he would probably be excited to see him if he woke up in the middle of the night fussing, and certainly the next morning. Finally I dried my tears and Colt and I made our way to the hospital, stopping only to say a prayer at the end of our street for a healthy baby and Mama, and a safe and happy Cashman.

When I arrived at the hospital, they sent me up to labor and delivery where I filled out the necessary paperwork, and was lead to Triage where I got into a gown and they hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse had already given me some indications that she didn't think I would be staying to have the baby that night. "Unless your contractions are making you writhe in pain, you probably aren't in labor yet." I explained that I didn't want to miss my window of opportunity for an epidural, being that I was so far dilated at that point and asked if they would jumpstart me on a little bit of Pitocin to get the contractions going a little bit stronger if I wasn't yet in active labor. "We don't induce at night," she said. After being monitored for a while, in the same small section of the Triage room that we were monitored in with Cash at 36 weeks, she came in and said that I was definitely having regular contractions but since they weren't painful they probably weren't changing my cervix. She checked me and said, "Who told you that you were 4 centimenters dilated?" "My doctor..." "Well everyone measures differently, but I Wouldn't even call you 4cm." NOT something you want to say to a very uncomfortable pregnant woman in early labor. At that point I was so aggravated with her attitude I said, "Well...does it shrink back?" She explained that because everyone has different sized hands, and fingers that someone might guess that I'm 4 cm, and someone else might check me right after and estimate a different number. She said she'd come back in an hour and check me again, but if there was no change, they'd be discharging me. Apparently the doctor doesn't want to come to the hospital in the middle of the night if I'm not close to delivering, and she certainly doesn't want to get out of bed to induce me, no matter how far dilated I am. Of course, an hour later, there was no change in my cervix although my contractions were getting stronger. I was sent home. I was so frusterated on the ride home that we had to go through all of that drama, and the emotional roller coaster of leaving my son at home in the middle of the night, knowing that I would have to do all of that again in a few days. I had been hoping that I would go into labor on my own, since I never experienced that with Cash (induced at 38 wks) but at that point I told Colt, "I hope they induce me now, because at least I'll know if they send me to the hospital for the induction, I'll be staying!" We got home around 2am, and found Grandaddy (my dad) and Cash snuggled up on the couch together. Apparently Cash woke up about an hour after we left and was a little confused as to why Grandaddy was there but we weren't. I put him back to bed, where he slept until 6am when he started fussing and we put him in bed with us. That's when I noticed that the contractions were becoming painful. Yep, 4 hours after coming home from the hospital, I knew I was going back at some point later that day.

Sunday morning, September 11th, 2011, I laid there snuggled close to Cash and Colt, having semi-painful contractions from about 6am until 8:30. By that point, they were painful enough to know that I had better get in the shower and get ready to leave for the hospital. I started having painful contractions in the shower, and they continued to get stronger throughout the rest of the "getting ready process". I called my mom when I got out of the shower and told her to get ready to go to the hospital AGAIN. I woke Colt up and told him to get ready to go too. By 10:30am, my mom and sister were at my house and Colt and I were packed and ready to go. I was having a hard time talking through the contractions at that point. Of course, on the ride to the hospital, Cash was in the backseat saying, "Mama...Mama...Aubee......AUBEE!" I remember looking at all of the flags on the side of the road that FC had planted in memory of everyone who died on September 11th, 2001. Cash talked almost the whole way to the hospital, which actually kind of calmed my nerves at hearing some of the cute thing's he'd say. As we passed McDonalds, he said, "MAMA! Ies (fries)!!" I could only laugh. I was still nervous on the way to the hospital that I was in that much pain, but for some reason there would still be no change in my cervix and we'd be sent home again. I prayed so hard that we'd be admitted and that I'd be bringing home a baby. When I arrived at the hospital, they sent me up to labor and delivery again, but instead of taking me to Triage, they sent me to delivery room 2. Right down the hall from delivery room 4, where God gave me one of the greatest blessings in my life. The nurse was the same nurse I had for Cash on the night of my induction. I LOVED her. She checked me, and I was at 5 1/2 centimeters. PROGRESS! She picked up her cordless phone and informed the front desk that I'd be staying. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I had spent the morning feeling pretty nauseated, so after my nurse insterted the IV, she gave me a little bit of Zofran. LOVE love Zofran. The nausea went away for the most part. I was still waiting on my epidural, as they couldn't get ahold of my doctor who was at another hospital, delivering 3 babies over there. Even after they got ahold of her and got her approval, I was second in line with the anestisiologist (spelling?). Finally, I got the epidural at 6cm. That was enough of a taste of "REAL" labor for me! About an hour after my epidural, my water broke on its own as I laid in the hospital bed. Everyone, myself included was excited that my water had broken without intervention. Everyone except Colt, who was concerned that his pillow which I had been laying next to was being ruined. Haha! Don't worry, no pillows were harmed in the laboring process. When the nurse checked to see if it was indeed my water that had broken, she said I was at 7cm. The nurse told me that the doctor wanted to start me on a little bit of Pitocin to really get my contractions going, so she could deliver when she arrived. Shortly after the water breaking, I started to notice that my epidural seemed to be wearing off on my left side. I could feel painful contractions again. They had me lay on my side, as epidurals are affected by gravity. It didn't seem to help, because I felt more pain on my left side throughout the remainder of labor. The anestisiologist even came in to up my dosage of the epidural, but again, it didn't seem to help. The doctor finally arrived at the hospital around 3-3:30ish. She looked kind of frazzled. When I asked her if it had been a busy morning, she said that she had already delivered 5 babies over the course of the last 12 hours! Apparently September 10-11th was a big day for babies. Must've been the full moon. :) She checked me upon her arrival, and low and behold, I was at 10!!! Time to push! I had gone from 7-10cm in less than an hour.

When I turned from my side to lay on my back to begin pushing, I felt one of the worst pains I've felt in my life. At that point, I felt like I had never had an epidural. All I could do was breathe through the contractions. I told the doctor that I could feel everything and she said, "Ok well lets push this baby out!" I was READY! I pushed as hard as I could for three contractions. I remembered that when Cash's head came out, it was only one more push and his body came out very easily. When they told me that Beckett's head was out, I breathed a sign of relief thinking that the hard part was over. I pushed again, thinking it was going to be my last but his body was not coming out. I didn't see it happen, but I'm told that the doctor started to freak out a little bit, checking his neck to make sure the cord wasn't wrapped around it. Then she started pulling on his head and neck pretty hard to help him come out. My sister Emilee started getting worried and said she wanted to yell, "He isn't Gumby!" Throughout all this drama, I was trying to hold the push, and re-pushing with no break. I was determined to get that kid out! Finally I felt his body leave mine, and I heard the doctor say, "OHHHH MY GOODNESS! He is HUUUUGE!"

It was so amazing to feel Beckett's soft, warm body laying on top of me. He had so much hair, and the fattest cheeks I had ever seen. I could hear the nurses and doctor in the background talking about how big he was. At that point, we still didn't know how much he weighed. Sharon, Colt's mom, cut the cord, as Colt gets totally freaked out at the thought of it. It was so special to me that I got to have Colt, my mom, my sister and Sharon in the room to experience everything with me. My mom cut Cash's cord, and Sharon cut Beckett's cord. I just LOVE that. Colt was amazing throughout everything. With Cash, he was so nervous, and faint feeling as I pushed. This time, he stood up next to my hospital bed, rubbing my head telling me how proud he was of me. I could tell right away that Beckett looked a lot like Colt.

They took him over to the warming bed, and cleaned him off to weigh him. "He's got to be at least 9lbs if not 10," I heard the doctor say to one of the nurses. I thought she was crazy. They laid him on the scale and EVERYONE was shocked to see that that fat boy weighed 9lbs. 14.5oz!!! I didn't have gestational diabetes or anything that would make him super large. Just lucky I guess. Haha!

After he was cleaned up, and I got myself together, our relatives that weren't in the delivery room were allowed to come up to see Beckett. We loved showing him off. The sense of pride you have after delivering a baby is like nothing else. I felt on top of the world. Even now, about a week after having him, I still haven't lost that feeling.

The hospital stay was much different this time around. I didn't hate it so much this time. I think because I'm used to a different bedtime now (2am as opposed to 6am before we had Cash), it was easier to fall asleep in the hospital. My mom stayed with me so Colt could keep Cash on his normal schedule at home. My mom was such a big help. The first night, Beckett didn't like sleeping in his little clear, plastic hospital bed, so my mom held him almost the whole night between nursing every two hours or so. One thing that didn't change is we still got no sleep. Just when you fall asleep, you have a nurse coming in to check your blood pressure and temperature, then a little while later another one comes in to check the baby, then after they leave, its time for your pain meds, then you have to go to the bathroom (which is very difficult as your body is so sore after labor), then the baby is awake and needs to nurse again (every 2 hours). The first night I think I slept on and off for about two to two and a half hours. The second night, maybe about an hour and a half. Thankfully my family, and Colt's family rallied together and helped us so much when we got home. They watched Cash for us, and took him to do fun things so we didn't feel guilty about pawning him off to get some sleep.

So there it is! The whole birthin' journey! We are so happy to have him. Colt, Cash and I went to Target tonight for a few things, leaving Beckett with my parents so he wasn't exposed to all the germs. It was the first time I've been away from him since his birth. Its only been a little over a week and it felt so strange not to have him riding in the backseat with Cash. Cash asked to hold him today and loves to give him kisses. We are so blessed. Hopefully I can crank out another post about the first week home. I'm pacing myself. :) Thanks for reading!