Beckett

Not sure why the pictures are such low quality when uploaded or why the B&W tone changes in some pictures but I am to lazy to figure it out.

He is here! Ok like 10 weeks ago he came but as you may or may not know life with a newborn tends to make the days slip by much faster. Before you know it there is no longer a newborn and panic sets in because you realize that you haven’t documented as much of their life as you planned too, and it is only the beginning and you’ve already fallen behind!

Such is life . . . well my life at least.

 Beckett Oakley Tillotson was born on August 10^th at 1:20 a.m.

He was born on the same day as my grandmother, his great grandmother and the same day as Sandie Tillotson Day in Knoxville Tennessee- who is his Tu Tu (Hawaiian for Grandma).

I was hoping he wouldn’t be too late like Porter (almost a week) so the day before his due date I spent many a hours bouncing on the tramp hoping to get something going. I was woken at 4 am on August 9^th  to the ever so lovely feeling of contractions. They were intense -not the Braxton hicks contractions. So, I got the lab top and my contraction counter and started to time them and watch movies. They were anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 minutes apart lasting a minute or two…so nothing really stable. This continued on until about 10:30 in the morning. It was around this time I thought that the contractions where starting to go away. The disappointment was sinking in as I was sitting on the couch thinking it was a false alarm. Right then I suddenly felt this odd pop and then a gush of water. I literally thought I had peed my pants, but then more water kept coming and I thought there is no way my bladder could EVER hold that much water. Derek had been on calls all morning so I yelled to him in the other room, “I think you need to end that call because my water just broke.”

A quick shower and car ride later I was checking into the hospital. The hospital staff has the mentality of guilty until proven innocent. If you walk in calm and collected claiming to be in labor and that your water broke they raise an eyebrow at you and say “Well . . . we will just see about that . . .” full of skepticism. I blame Hollywood for dramatizing life events so that everyone has a jaded view of what a women is like in the beginning stages of labor. However, the ending stages might actually hold true to the Hollywood hype.

So, they skeptically bring me to a room and ask me some questions then check me, and sure enough my water had broke. Which was a relief because I was seriously starting to doubt myself with how they were treating me. Big sigh of relief, I knew this baby was coming and would be here by the day’s end, which was exciting!

With porter I was induced and instantly put on Pitocin to get labor going. So, I never really had time to labor it out because of how intense the Pitocin was and how quickly it brought everything on. With this baby I wanted to try and hold off on the epidural as long as possible because I have really long labors and didn’t want to be confined to a bed for hours and hours…well that ended up happening any ways. 

Around 3:00 I was tired and the contractions where getting more painful. They checked me and I was at a 5- I decided I had felt enough and was ready for the epidural.

My epidural did not go as smoothly as planned. There was a new anesthesiologist and he just happened to be working the day of my delivery. Because I am so petite I guess it is easier to administer the epidural, which also gives the added risk of puncturing my spinal column. What is a punctured spinal column you ask? It’s a small hole in your spine that spinal fluid leaks out of when you stand up, causing your brain to sag and pull on your skull as the fluid drains…this in turn creates the most intense headaches ever. The headaches start up a few days after the procedure.  I didn’t learn that he had punctured my spinal column until a few days after having Beckett when I started to get really intense headaches.  No,  I could wait a month for the hole to close up on it’s own or do something called a blood patch-which I did- which was very painful.

Mean while back at the hospital at the time of administration he overdosed me! I was lying in bed a couple minutes after the epidural and I began to feel very very weird… Then I kept telling Derek to move me here or do this or that.  I started to get more panicky and insistent until I was in a full blown panic attack.  At this point I had turned into a lunatic and Derek awkwardly said to me, “I am going to call the nurse…” So, Derek pages the nurse and by this time I had gone blue and my heart rate had dropped dangerously low. They called in the anesthesiologist who took some magic syringe out of his pocket and injected it into me instantly to stabilize me.  Yeah I know –what the drama? I keep trying to tell myself that all of this couldn’t have been as bad as having an un-medicated birth. But you can bet I sent out a very specific letter of complaint about a certain anesthesiologist.

They did figure out the correct dosage and everything else went great. I labored and progressed slowly. Which I expected. I hoped to have him by 10:00 p.m. that night but as soon as 8:00 hit I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want any other drugs (Pitocin) during my labor. I knew my body could progress on it’s own and do what it was suppose to. So I didn’t see the need for Pitocin, which the hospital kept suggesting, over and over… to speed things along. Too bad they were on my time schedule and I was in no rush. Around 1:00 a.m. I was fully dilated and ready to go. I pushed for 20 minutes and then everyone gasped as they saw that he was a little bit bigger than they thought he would be. He was perfect and plump-for my standard of baby- weighing 6lbs 7 oz. and 20” long. More than a pound bigger than Porter and a couple inches longer too.

My favorite is when they place this new person on your chest right after delivery and you get to look into their big wide eyes for the first time. My Dr. was kind enough to let me have this moment for a little bit longer than normal. For the next five minutes it was calm and still as we laid looking at each other. Both of us probably trying to figure out if we measured up to the others expectations.

Beckett, You surpassed mine.

You came out calm, barely a whimper.

This was the first clue that you are a low key, laid back soul.

I love your quiet spirit-calmly taking in our family each day.

Posterity is such a great blessing. I’m privileged to be a mother. Your mother.