The First Two Weeks

Wow, Beckham is 2 weeks today!! I tried to update the blog a couple times but my internet has been up and down, and it just happened to be down when I had free time so now I have lots to write about. I better get started!

On Wednesday, March 25th, I woke at 4:30 am with contractions. When I felt the first one, I didn't think anything of it because I sometimes felt them randomly in the middle of the night. I thought it was strange when the second one hit me ten minutes later so I checked the time and decided to keep track if I felt another one. About 10-12 minutes later there was another one... and another... and another. At around 5:30am, I went to lay on the couch since there was no way I was falling back asleep. In the meantime, Joshua had woken up and left to go to P.T. where he told his supervisor that he couldn't go into work because I may be in labor. At 7am, the contractions were still consistent so I called my mom before she went to work to let her know to keep an eye on her phone because I may be calling her to go to the hospital later, and then I hopped into the shower. When I got out, the contractions were gone! An hour later, they came back and were only 5 minutes apart but they were only lasting about 30 seconds each. I called Robin to let her know what was going on and I stayed on the phone with her while she timed the contractions for me and listened to me squirm in pain. By the time we hung up about an hour or so later, the contractions were 3 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds each. They continued this way for about another 30 minutes before I decided to call my doctor. Once I did, they told me to head to the hospital. So here's the timeline from then on...

11:24 - Arrived at Touro

11:45 - 2-3cm/70%/-2

13:39 - 3cm/70%/-2, Broke my water bag (the worst pain I've ever felt!), Dr. Von Almen tells me he has to leave to go to the Hornets game at 5pm!

13:57 - Started Pitocin

14:53 - EPIDURAL!

15:45 - 5cm/80%/-1

16:45 - 6cm/80%/0

19:00 - 8cm/90%/0

20:00 - 9-10cm

20:40 - 10cm, Started pushing with Dr. Donna Waters

21:40 - Beckham came out!

The day after Beckham was born, I ended up breaking out in hives really bad while I was at the hospital. My lips were bigger than Angelina Jolie's and my throat was swollen. My arms looked like two huge hives with fingers attached to them and the rest of me had hives scattered about. What sucked the most about it was that they had to hook me up to the IV again. They gave me steroids which got the swelling to slowly go down, but I ended up breaking out again really bad once I got home. Over the first few days I was at home, I was drowsy from Benadryl and had a rough time keeping up with all the visitors we had. Luckily, the hives finally went away and didn't return. I think they were brought on by all the excitement rather than something I ate or inhaled.

At home, Beckham did well right away. He did great with nursing and slept most of the night. We couldn't and still can't believe what a good baby he is. He only cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change. Well, he also cries when we change his diaper or clothes and when we put lotion on him.

Everything was going great until he was 6 or 7 days old when we first noticed that he was having some trouble breathing at night due to mucus in his throat. Over the next 3 or 4 days, it gradually got worse and he started having trouble sleeping and eating. Of course, I wasn't getting much sleep either because I stayed up all night making sure that he was still breathing. When I called the pediatrician's office, the nurse told me that it was common with newborns and that we needed to put saline drops in his nostrils and use the ball syringe before each feeding. After trying that for a day, it still got worse; and when he was 10 days old, he started choking on the mucus. It was the middle of the night and there was no way I was going to even close my eyes until I knew that he could breath better so at 3am we decided to bring him to the hospital to see if they could suction out the mucus.

After waiting for hours and hours, we finally saw Dr. Love who had his nose suctioned and an x-ray done on his chest. He was still breathing the same after they vacuumed his nose, but they were able to test what they did get out for the flu and RSV. The x-ray and the test all came back clear. Dr. Love told us that he just had a cold and there was nothing we can do other than the saline drops. After being there for 6 hours, the only good that came from the visit was that Dr. Love wrote him a prescription for some ointment to use on his eye where he was developing an infection.

Although Beckham still has the eye infection, it does seem to be gradually getting better. As for his breathing, I bought a humidifier which has done wonders for him. He is breathing sooooo much better now!

I've been nursing Beckham so, of course, I've been the only one feeding him which is no fun for Joshua. I had planned on waiting until he was 4 weeks old before starting to pump and feed him through a bottle; but on Monday, April 6th, I gave in and Joshua was able to feed him for the first time. Well we actually tried when he was 4 days old but he fought it the whole time and I decided again that I would wait. It took a lot of hard work to get him to finally take it. He also doesn't care for pacifiers. He usually spits them right out or locks his lips when you try to give it to him.

Also on Monday, Beckham's umbilical stump fell off! We were so excited because we were finally able to give him his first bath which we didn't end up doing until today. We found another thing he doesn't like. He cried the whole time! He just really doesn't like being naked.

Yesterday was Beckham's first visit with his pediatrician. The doctor that we chose was out of town so we had to see someone different, and we ended up liking the temporary doctor so much that we're going to stick with him. Beckham now weighs 6lbs 12 oz so he gained 4 oz, and he is 20 1/2 inches long so he grew almost an inch.

After his bath today, we took him to have his picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Donna bought him a precious little outfit to wear for it and he looked just like a baby doll. He ended up crying for the picture because he didn't like his little bonnet and he was getting hungry. I know, I said he was such a good baby and now I'm writing about all these things he doesn't like! LOL

These last two weeks have been so special and Joshua has been so wonderful. He was such a great help and did so much for me when I was in the hospital and he has been just as helpful and loving at home. He is amazing with Beckham and I know it's going to be hard for me to readjust when he goes back to work next week. I'm so fortunate to have had him home for so long though. Yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary and it was a joy to have Beckham here to spend it with.

Before I end this, I want to say thank you to our incredible family who have been more than helpful to us. This experience has been even more special because of all of you!