birth story...beck

I am an only child. My husband is an only child. Before we had Gage, we would have sworn (and did!) that he would be an only child, too. But once I got a taste of parenthood, I wanted more...call me crazy. It took some convincing for Scott, but eventually he came around (or I wore him down, however you choose to look at it).

Our second baby was due on December 15, 2007...but since I had already had a c-section with Gage, that was the plan the second time around as well, and the delivery was scheduled for December 10. This time I was over 35, so I was scheduled for an amniocentesis, which for me was scary but also comforting...I don't deal well with the unknown. When the results confirmed that we were having another baby boy, we were thrilled. It was definitely harder being pregnant with a rambunctious two year old to care for, but it was fun to see Gage's growing excitement over the baby brother in mommy's tummy.

Everything was going well.  We hadn't chosen a name...we couldn't seem to agree...but we had at least narrowed it down to two or three we both liked.  I had purchased a crib bedding set and my mom and I had painted the nursery a nice blue.  My friends were planning a wonderful baby shower for me on December 1.

And then I found the puppies.

I was shopping one day in early November when I saw this adorable bedding set and fell in love.

  

I know what you're thinking...hadn't I already bought an entire bedding set?  Hadn't we already painted the nursery?  Wasn't I just weeks away from my due date?  Indeed, but when you have OCD all those rational thoughts seem to fade into the background...  I HAD to have this bedding.  I HAD to repaint the entire nursery back to its original color, then paint the lower half the perfect shade of khaki and hang a wallpaper border.  Of course Scott thought I was crazy, but my mom offered to do whatever it took to help me get this accomplished (I can always count on Mom!).  So on Saturday, November 10, I woke up early, went to visit my friend Roni and her new baby boy, took Gage to a birthday party, and then spent the entire afternoon and evening repainting the nursery.  We finished the painting (after a LOT of primer and a LOT of swearing on Scott's part...yes, he ended up helping despite feeling like it was a complete waste of time)...but the wallpaper border wasn't up, and the room was a mess with all the furniture moved into the center of the room and covered with drop cloths...in other words, a neat freak's worst nightmare.  But not to worry...we still had five weeks to get the room in order...

The next day Scott went to work and I was planning to attend a bridal shower for my friend Holly.  My mom was going to watch Gage for the afternoon, so we headed out to Northwest Austin where my parents were living at the time.  Shortly after arriving, we sat down at the dining room table to eat lunch.  And then my water broke.  Not having experienced it with Gage, it took me a minute to realize what was happening...and then I went into denial mode...surely I was just experiencing an especially intense episode of pregnancy incontinence.  When the reality began to set in, I got scared...I was only 35 weeks...what if something went wrong?  I called the after hours number for Dr. Phillips, and then called Scott.  I was planning to wait for the doctor to call back and then have my mom drive me to the hospital...Scott had other ideas.  After much protesting on my part, he convinced me I needed to call 911 and take an ambulance ride to the hospital.  I wasn't having contractions and I felt pretty foolish, but I finally agreed and called 911.  Gage loves ambulances, but he was a little scared about seeing Mommy taken away in one...I tried to be brave for both of us.

I started having mild contractions in the ambulance.  By the time we arrived at the hospital, Scott was waiting and they took me right to my room.  Since I was already scheduled for a c-section (5 weeks later!) things moved quickly.  The doctors and nurses didn't seem overly worried, but they did try to prepare us for what seemed inevitable...at 35 weeks, the baby would probably weigh less than 5 pounds and would most likely be spending some time in the NICU.

My water had broken at 12:30...three hours later we had our beautiful second son...a healthy, 5 pound 11 ounce baby!  His blood sugar was a little low at first, but he recovered quickly, and never had to go to the NICU.  He didn't officially have a name for another day, until we settled on Beck Quinlan, a compromise from the two names we had been deciding between, Beck and Quinn.  We had become a family of four.

Later, Gage took great delight in sharing Beck's birth story with anyone who would listen.  According to Gage, we were at Nana & Papa's house when Mommy spilled her drink (in other words, my water broke!) and had to ride in the ambulance.  Priceless.