Two days before Beckett was born, our punch-drunk naming marathon had us naming him Hale. Cool, simple name; easily read, pronounced and spelled. But, being punch-drunk, we were going to name him Hale Gallaxhar, Ha ha! The night before he came, we decided on Beckett Rackham.
The day Beckett was delivered was a bit of a surprise. At 34 weeks and 5 days, we had recently started seeing an indication that the blood flow to Beckett was slowing. At my regularly scheduled appointment we saw that it has slowed even more. The next step would be that the flow would stop, and eventually start flowing in the other direction. Dr. Lopez-Zeno decided that day, January 20, was the day, so off went Daddy and I to the hospital while Grandma and Grandpa stayed at home with Fin.
The c-section was straight forward and my recovery went well. He was born on Monday and I went home on Friday (I scored an extra day because he was still in the NICU, and, quite frankly, staying in bed with three meals delivered, nothing to clean, and no kids to care for was a nice little vacation.). Little Beckett stayed in the NICU for two weeks with barely any problems. He had a little help breathing for the first night, but that was it. He developed jaundice, which we expected, and was on the bilirubin lights for a few days. The toughest part was the IV. It just wouldn't last for more than a day without backing up, so it would be in the right hand, then a foot, then the left hand, and finally his head, which I had a hard time with. I knew it was necessary, but to see it in the head was rough. (Beckett on his bilirubin lights...)
Little Beckett also had a tube in his nose for feeding, and that stayed in until a day or two before he got to come home. That was tough, too, because he'd pull at it everyday and it frequently had to be replaced, no matter how creative they tried to get with tape.
At last, it was time for a car seat test to see if we could bring home a little man who was born at 3#, 5 oz., and now weighed just over four pounds - the minimum!
Just within the last few days, I'm starting to get a few coos and some smiles. Fin loves Beckett. Usually. When he can, Fin likes to bring toys to Beckett (often putting them on his face) and becomes concerned when Beckett cries. Usually. There was a morning this week when Beckett was on my chest, crying over a gassy tummy. Fin was trying to hear his cartoons, so he turned to me and said, "You turn that Beckett off, Mommy." Oh, honey. If I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be waking up every three hours at night.
Fin. Ah, Fin. He remains my exuberant, amazing, loud, funny, energetic boy. Fin is just one big ball of sunshine that makes every day amazing and intense and great, even if it often seems he ONLY HAS ONE SETTING FOR VOLUME. Extra fun at restaurants. He's really getting to the age where he can be more independent, spending a lot of these spring days on the back deck playing in the sand box. Oh, how I wish we had a house with a backyard!!
Fin has also become the man of "I do it myself!," or, at the very least, "We work together, Mommy," which means we both have to have hands on it at the same time, whether it's pouring a glass of milk, pushing the stroller, or planting flowers. He also loves to boss. He tries to tell us when we can talk, whom we can talk to, when Sissy can get in or out of the car, and has recently decided that no one (especially Sissy) can have something if he wants it, even if each person gets their own. "No! No water, Sissy! *I* want water! You no want water!"
Still, Fin's most favorite person continues to be his big sister, although lately it's more because he loves to play with her when she gets home from school, and less because he wants to raid the leftovers in her lunchbox!
And Maddie. Dear, sweet, Maddie. Her biggest trigger for getting in trouble is doing anything that sets Fin into a big, loud, silly bout when we're at a restaurant. She doesn't need to do much!
Maddie is REALLY into a game called Minecraft. Poor kid, I try to look interested when she tells me about some wood she found, a kid who grew up, a structure she built, a kid who died, a crop that grew ... But I truly have no interest in this game. Maddie wants a Minecraft themed birthday party. In the past, I have had every detail of Maddie's parties planned out more than a month in advance of her birthday, but this Minecraft thing is painful. Her birthday is a week from today and I just sent out a note to see if her small list of party guests is available. I have NOTHING planned, we leave in three days for a camping trip, and will get back the day before the party. Kill me. This will not be the Best Party Ever. Gah!!
Well, it's 10:30pm, way past my bedtime these days, since I have to get up several times a night for Beckett and then get up in the morning to get Maddie off to school. G'nite!!
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