Beckett's return to normalcy

It has been six weeks today since Beckett was born. At two and a half weeks Beckett had an appointment and had lost about half a pound since his last appointment the week prior (and he eats non-stop)-so that worried the doctor a bit. The doctor was going to take him off the oxygen but because he was losing weight he didn't want to yet. So we had a couple appointments for weight checks. Beckett was slowly gaining it back so they finally took him off oxygen. At about three weeks they finally put him on normal baby status so our next appointment isn't until he's about 9 weeks! Yea, after having 13 doctor visits in his first 3 weeks of life- it'll be nice to have a break.

Here's some pictures from when Beckett was 4 weeks. We blessed him so we had all the family in town.

Beckett after church- hungry and not wanting to take pictures.

Aunt April, Uncle Adam, and Uncle Austin (he was calling Beckett names so he's not so happy).

Grandma and Grandpa Mickelson

Grandma and Grandpa Hill

While my family was in town Dan entertained them with some local hiking and biking trails and I would stay home and feed Beckett all day. That's what I feel like I'm doing anyways.

Beckett Andrew has arrived!

So I woke up at about 8 am Saturday morning (July 18) and I figured my water had broke. I told Dan but didn't tell my mom and grandma. I figured there wasn't any real reason to rush to the hospital and if I told them they would probably stuff me in the car and take me themselves. I still felt completely normal besides my water leaking on and off. So I got up and made breakfast and muffins, did the dishes, sent Dan on a bike ride figuring it might be a little while till he could get on his new bike again. Finally, I called the doctor and told my mom- we had lunch then headed to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 1 pm. I still was feeling great- no contractions.

They hooked me up to the monitors and checked to make sure that my water truly had broke. The doctor checked my out and I was still 2-3 cm dilated and 75 % effaced with baby head down. They said I was having contractions about 4 minutes apart but I couldn't really feel them. The doctor wanted to induce me- but I wanted to see if my body would do it on its own first. I let her know I wanted to do it as naturally as possible. So Dan and I went walking to a nearby park plus we explored every hallway in the hospital- hours later still no changes. So I said fine if they are going to have to induce me they might as well start it soon- since I am not making progress on my own.

Here I am writing thank you notes and trying to pass the time. Once we told them we were ready to be induced it seemed to be forever until they got things going. They had trouble inserting the IV and had to do it a couple of times. Finally around 9 pm they started me on PIT and gradually increased the dosage throughout the night. Around 3 am the contractions started getting pretty annoying and later they started getting painful. Dan was a trooper and was helping all night- he only had to leave when they were starting my IVs. (He gets really squeamish). I was getting really frustrated because it felt like I wasn't making any progress and we were afraid if I hadn't done it on my own by the magically 24 hour mark from my water breaking that they would do a c-section at about 7:30 am the doctor finally told me I could try pushing and at 9:27 am finally our beautiful baby boy was born! Thankfully they let me finish it out on my own- no C-section because I was over 24 hours (and no other interventions) I was able to do it naturally. If we would have known I was going to have to be induced we would have started it as soon as possible but oh well.

Here's Beckett right after he was born and had a quick wipe down. He was actually born with meconium all over him (he had his first bowl movement in the uterus) so they were rushing to clean him off. He was born 8 pounds 7.8 ounces and 21 inches long- with a huge head- no wonder it took me forever to push him out.

This horrible picture is me right after the delivery. I'm not sure if this picture truly shows what a disaster I looked. I popped blood vessels in my eyes and in other places on my face and my face swelled up like a balloon (from pushing so hard). My eyes were almost swollen shut. I was frustrated becuase I couldn't see what was going on after the delivery very well. During the labor I contracted a fever and had to have some oxygen on in between pushes. Thankfully my face has now gone back to almost normal. One of the nurses said she almost didn't recognize once my face slimmed down. My mom thought it was more swollen then when I got my wisdom teeth out.

Here's Dan with Beckett shortly after he was born. Before he got taken away from us and all sorts of tubes hooked up to him. They did all sorts of tests on him and found out his white blood cell count to be elevated, so they took him to the nursery and hooked him up to an iv and started him on antibiotics as a precautionary measure. They did many other tests one of which showed my placenta was infected. So they had to do a five day treatment of antibiotics on him. While hooked up to all the monitors they noticed his oxygen levels dropping (mainly when he was in a deep sleep) so they hooked him up to oxygen.

This is Beckett hooked up to all the wires- you can't see the iv (it's in his left foot)- well that's where the first iv went- it started going into his tissue so they later moved it to his hand and that one started leaking a few days later. Thankfully they only had 3 more treatments of antibiotics and administered those with shots instead of trying another IV.

Here's my grandma, mom, Dan, Beckett and me. Four generations.

Dan with Beckett in our hospital room- he was doing a lot better so they took all the monitors off him except for his IV and he could stay with us in our room- that only lasted one night and then they took him back to the nursery because his oxygen levels were dropping again. It was hard to believe we had a kid since he wasn't with us- or it was hard not to feel like we were abandoning him already. You can kind of see the rosey circles on his cheeks from where the stickers were to hold the oxygen tubing in place.

After 8 days in the hospital and practically going out of our minds we finally got to take Beckett home. The frustrating part about our stay was they changed the day we were going to go home on us like 4 times.

We're glad the hospital tests and all that is over- but this is just going to make me an extra paranoid mom. Now that Beckett is home he has to have oxygen for a couple weeks or so. It's kinda annoying- we have a 40 foot tube that can reach pretty much anywhere in the house but I'm afraid I'm going to trip on it or something- I can be clumsy sometimes. But I think it will help me sleep better knowing he is getting oxygen.

Beckett at his one week appointment weighed 9 pounds already- We're glad to have a healthy growing boy.

My mom with her first grandchild, Beckett.

July 17

Friday night (7/17) we took my mom and grandma to Rifle's finest attraction "Rifle Falls". We did the quick hike around it. My mom and grandma are getting impatient for the baby to come and we're trying to think of things for us to do to keep us entertained.

July 16-- 40 weeks pregnant

Today's the official due date. My mom and Grandma came into to town earlier this week and are anxious for me to go into labor. I'm feeling too normal to go into labor- no signs of anything yet. I did have an appointment and the doctor said I was dilated 2-3 cm and 75% effaced. She also "stripped my membranes" to try to get things going. The baby was finally head down! Yea! She said if the baby doesn't come on it's own I will be induced next Thursday July 23. I do not want to be induced though.

Pregnancy Update

So I guess I'll try out this blogging craze. Dan left for Moab to go biking and I'm on summer vacation, so this will give me something to do I guess. We'll see how I do with keeping it up.

So here's some lovely pictures of me 37 weeks pregnant. I used to always measure really big but not anymore. I feel like I haven't grown any in over a month- or put on any more weight. The Dr. says I'm measuring right on target now. I think the baby just had a big growth spurt in the beginning.

When I went in for my appointment on Monday I found out this kid is swimming sideways. So since I was past 36 weeks and he was not head down they took me in for an ultrasound to make sure of his position. So now I have the dilemma of figuring out what to do. They were ready to schedule an appointment for me to come into the hospital to try to turn him. But I said I'd rather wait and see if he turns on his own because he sure moves around a lot (last week they said he was head down- couple weeks before that he wasn't- before that he was...). My doctor said I could wait until I go into labor and if he hasn't turned they'll try then. If he never turns, it's a C-section, which I don't want.

I've been doing a little research on this process of turning the baby. The percentages of a successful "version" are between like 40-70% and decrease the bigger the baby gets. Even if they do successfully turn him he could always turn back later. That's what I'm afraid of. But if it decreases my chances of having a c-section then maybe it won't hurt to try. There are risks of your water breaking and you going into labor, or detaching the placenta, or causing fetal stress while they are pushing and moving around your uterus- that's why they have to do it in the hospital so they are ready for an emergency c-section if needs be. But I think the chances of those are extremely slim. At minimum you'll experience discomfort and pain/soreness- and I'd have to deal with more needles- No thanks!

I'll see on Tuesday what position he's in and try to make a decision on what to do- because if I go in for a version- I want to do it sooner so I have a better chance of success. They can always try again later or at birth. I just do not want a c-section.

But it was fun to have another ultrasound- I wasn't planning on it. It confirmed that it is for sure a boy and they estimate he was about 6 lbs. So it cleared up some of my fears. I was afraid they were wrong with my first ultrasound about it being a boy since he was so wiggly and they never got a real good view of things. I also was afraid he wasn't growing- since I haven't much. According to the ultrasound it puts my due date a couple days earlier- but still my official due date is July 16.