Beckett Graham

Beckett Graham arrived April 13, at 12:06 p.m. weighing in at 6 pounds 2 ounces, and 19 inches long! He is a cutie pie! He had a rough start but he is doing awesome now! I keep this blog instead of a baby book (at least at this time). Some of you may find this post boring, but I need to write it all down!

Beckett arrived and did well the first 22 hours. He was able to latch on fairly good, his blood sugar was initially low when he was born but that was no big deal and was easily fixed by giving him some formula. I sent him to the nursery from 1:30-4:30 a.m. the first night so I could get a few hours of sleep. I was feeling great when he came back at 4:30 and nursed him. At 9:00 the Pediatrician came in to meet and access Beckett. He said he looked "perfect"! At 9:30, Chantel, a recent RN grad came into access Beckett. She asked me if his temperature had been running low. I said, no. She took it 3 times and didn't like her reading. She said, I'm going to take him to the nursery and warm him up a bit. I wasn't worried....at all. About 20 minutes later she came in and said the Neonatologist was coming to look at Beck. When he got there it had already been suspected that Beck was having "Apnea", his blood sugar was way low, his resting heart beat was way low, and his temp was too low. They said they needed to keep him in the nursery to watch him but I could come see him. I went right down. i sat with him with all the monitors on him and then it happened. He turned gray. He turned a color I've never seen on a human. The monitors started going crazy. I said, "is that my baby that is making the monitors go off, what is wrong with him"? It was so frightening. When that happened it was then confirmed that Beckett had Sleep Apnea with Bradycardia. The doctor came and told me he needed to go the NICU and be monitored. My heart sank. What was happening? Why was this happening? The doctor told me Beckett was a "near term baby". He wasn't quite ready to be out of my womb. His brain was not making the connection to tell his body to breathe. He explained that Beckett would have to be 5 days without any incidences before he could go home after passing a sleep study. My mind raced. What if he never went 5 days? What if it was something not connected to being "near term"? Ugh........
I left the hospital on Sunday. That was possibly the hardest day of my life. I kissed him and cried and told him how much I loved him. It was terrible. I feel for any parent who has to leave a baby at the hospital. I knew he needed to be there but I wanted him home. But I was scared too. April 16, at 10:33 p.m. Beckett had his last episode. He had it for Daddy. And it has NEVER come back. Each day I would go see my sweet boy at 8:00 a.m. until 1:15, then I would return at 8:00 p.m. until 10:00. I was tired, but you do what you have to do. On Thursday Beckett had a sleep study and passed with flying colors. On Friday, April, 22 Beckett was released to come home!

Beckett is doing great! He weighs 6 pounds 15 ounces! He loves to eat, poop, and sleep! We go through about 4 outfits a day. Those boys and their boy parts! Beckett is on an amazing schedule, thanks to the NICU nurses. He eats every 3 hours, like clock work.

It is so wonderful to have my cutie pie home with us!