So far there is one unique thing about you that stands out among the rest. It’s your sheep call. For some reason, when you get mad, I mean really mad, you cry so hard that you exhale all your air, and start to sound like a sheep.

So now you’re thinking “Wait, you made me mad on purpose to record this?”. No, not at all. We just gave you a bath. Works every time

So there’s a real weird pattern here.  And I mean a completely reliable one at that.  It never fails that every time you start to breastfeed, you poop your pants.  And every time we change your diaper, you pee all over yourself.  Usually all the way to your face.  I am not exaggerating when I say that both of those things happen at least once per day.  Just now your mother went to change you before she fed you.  You peed all over yourself.  After she cleaned you up and sat down to feed you, you pooped your pants so bad that some started coming out the side, and she had to get back up and change you again.

You need to learn that there is a time and a place for those things.  Forgot potty training, we need to diaper train you.

So I haven’t posted in a bit.  As you can guess, I’ve been quite busy with you.  And wouldn’t you know it, I have caught a cold for the first time in almost a year.

Overall you’re really well behaved.  As far as crying goes, you rarely ‘freak out’ as most babies do.  It is more rare for you to cry, than it is for you to not cry.  You usually spend all your awake time just looking around being calm.  I’d say your biggest problem is knowing when to pee or poop.  You’ve peed all over yourself at least once a day, and I mean that literally.  Every single day, no matter how quickly we cover your stuff, you pee all over yourself.  Yesterday you blasted some poop at me, and barely missed (as we were changing you).  Last night you peed all over your mother as she gave you a bath.  Every time we change your diaper, we have to change it a minimum of twice, because it is guaranteed that you will either pee on it as we put it on you, or you will poop it right as we lock the tabs on it.

Here’s some pictures from Thanksgiving day …
         
         

I don’t know what is going on anymore. Yesterday you did so good with breast feeding, I was finally able to relax and enjoy you and be around everyone else. Night comes around and you are like a totally different baby. I don’t know if I am doing something wrong or if you just are not as hungry as you let on. I hope something changes soon, I don’t want to have to go to a bottle with you.

Today you went on your first doctor visit.  We had a lot of questions for the doctor.  They did a complete check up and said quote - “You have a perfect baby!”.  We were very happy to hear that.  You’re perfectly healthy and quite well behaved for a baby.  You’re laying in Mommy’s chair right next to me as I type this.  For some reason you love staring at my computer monitor.  It silences you instantly.

We were at the hospital for 17 hours(me & Nana were).I played my Nintendo DS.I played cards with Nana too.Me and Nana played with our hair(I know you wouldn’t want to do that ).We waited for a long time.Chris gave mommy a box of flowers,bear,and a card.All that waiting and we finally got to see you.When I saw you I loved you from the start You grabbed my finger with your fingers.You grabbed my finger with your toes too!The full 17 hours was worth it though

Well with all the compliments on how much of a calm relaxed baby you are, we discovered why.  You have day and night confused.  It makes sense too.  You were more active (kicking and stuff inside mom) during the night.  And you spend all day now sleeping.  But at night, you are literally non-stop.  Screaming, crying, pooping, peeing, and needing to be fed every hour.  We’re getting no sleep.  Your mom even less since she has to feed you, and I can at least rest during that.  She’s in tears almost from how rough this is.  And it’s got me turned into a zombie.  Hope things get better soon.  We’re going to try to keep you up more during the day to get you on the right schedule.

We’ve been a bit worried.  The first two days, you had plenty of tar pies for me in your diaper.  But now, you’ve not pooped once in almost 48 hours.  And only peed a few times.  Had us very concerned.  We didn’t know if you were having trouble getting it out, or you were not getting enough food from your mom (hard to tell if you get anything).  We finally got a hold of the doctor and she reassured us that this is quite common.  You’re just using up every bit of nutrients you take in, which means no poop.  We’ll be taking you to see her in the beginning of the week.  But so far everything seems good.  No poopy diapers is definitely not a bad thing

So you didn’t sleep as well as we originally expected.  You did great at the hospital.  But you are so obsessed with feeding, that you’re running your mother into the ground.  She has to feed you like once every hour, and it’s killing her.  No sleep, no rest, and no chance to recover.  We got no sleep last night.  We’re both exhausted.  But as soon as we get you to calm down, and we start to get relaxed, you start screaming again for more food.  You stop on your own after about 30 minutes, and we lay you back down, but then you scream for more.  Over and over and over and over and over ……

No sleep.  Mom is in a lot of pain from her stitches.  Life is rough right now.  Adding severe money problems to the bundle of stress, and things are very rough right now.

Wow. You’re finally here.

Time for me to just be honest here. I was not much of a kid person all my life. I swore to never have kids. Then Tess came around, and I really started liking kids. Your sister is one of the greatest kids alive. But she’s easy, she’s not a baby anymore. I definitely did not want anymore kids, and definitely did not want a baby.

Your mother however wanted a baby. She wanted more than one. We decided to meet halfway, and her have one baby. I secretly only agreed because a) I want her to be happy b) I was at least hoping for a boy. I’ve already got a girl, and I’d only be happy with another baby if it was a boy. I never would have done anything different, or treated you different, if you were a girl instead. But deep down inside, I really wanted a son.

Lucky for me, I got one. A healthy one at that. One that looks just like me.

Even up until last week, I was happy, and looking forward to meeting you. But I still was not really ’sold’ on this whole having a baby thing. Hell I’m sure some future sleepless nights will make me wish there was a pause button on you. But the moment you flew out (once she got past your head, you shot out like a bullet). The moment I saw you, screaming your bright red little face off. I felt better than someone who wins a lottery. I turned and hugged your mother, with tears in my eyes, and a smile so wide that I think my ears split open. I am so happy now, and wouldn’t change anything we’ve done for the world. I promise you I’ll be the best father for you that ever existed. I really love you a lot Jason.

For the next 41 hours I didn’t sleep. I stayed up trying to take care of you and your mother. She finally was a bit better, and able, so she let me take something to help me sleep, and I got a full night sleep in the hospital couch.

You’re such a good baby. You never cry unless you’re hungry or messy. Once you get your way, you stop instantly. Although you don’t like baths, and definitely cry during those too.

We’re finally home today. We spent the day just sitting around the house taking care of you. Your nana was here most of the day. I took your sister to Karate class so Master You could see your pictures, and so Tess could have some free time (she spent days of boredom in that hospital patiently). Stopped and got your mom some ice cream on the way back. She’s really hurting, tore her up pretty good. And she rarely sleeps, as you demand feeding like once per hour.

She just took a nice relaxing bath. I laid down on the bed with you, cuddled right up to my face so my breath could keep your warm (for some reason you really love that). You sneezed a nice one in my face once. Then you did one of your deep sleep practice smiles. We laid there for a good while.

I decided to leave the room for a few hours so your mother could get some well needed rest (I am not really sleepy yet) since we’ll have to feed you again in an hour or so.

Here begins our first night with you home …

Got a few more pictures of Jason uploaded now that we’re home. Trisha is in bed taking a nap, while Jason is in his bassinet next to her. Both sound asleep. The dogs seem to really like him too. They love just standing there staring at him.

For the entire Album please click here

11/15/2006
8:00 am - Trisha and I are admitted to the hospital
11:30 am - After tests, paperwork, and other procedures, the Oxytocin drip is started to induce her labor
1:30 pm - Trisha is 4cm dilated, and her water is broken
1:45 pm - She is administered her first pain meds through IV, as the contractions get excruciating
2:45 pm - The first dose of pain medicine wears off, another dose is desperately needed. Trisha is holding on strong.
3:00 pm - The pain is now unbearable, Trisha gets an epidural
4:30 pm - 7cm dilated
5:15 pm - 9cm dilated
5:45 pm - Trisha is ordered to start pushing. Even with an epidural the pain is excruciating as her faced turns purple. She continues pushing, never missing a beat as the doctor makes her hold and push 3 times for 10 seconds each. Trisha never messes up a single push.
8:30 pm - The baby’s head is almost crowned, but after hours of pushing, a little snip is required as Trisha cannot push much longer.
8:31 pm - My hero … my wife … manages after hours of excruciating pain and hard work gives birth to our son !!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone welcome to the world:
Jason Marshall Beck
6 pounds 15.3 ounces
18 inches tall

I will obviously have a lot more pictures soon. I am in the hospital room as I type this. We’re being kept here one more day. I am using a cell phone and laptop. I’ll put more up when we are finally home.

My doctor suggested today that we go ahead and induce me and so I got set up for it to happen tomorrow morning bright and early. You weren’t moving very much today during the ultrasound due to not having very much room left, so I’m a perfect candidate for early induction. Hopefully by this time tonight I will have you in my arms I’m ready and not ready, nervous and excited. I’m also very scared b/c even though I know what to expect, child birth is not easy or pain free. At least we don’t have the mad rush to the hospital hoping we make it in time or me being in too much pain since I’ll get my epidural early hopefully

Here’s to hoping everything goes good.

We had a false alarm on Thursday morning.  About 2 AM I woke up in false labor and it lasted for 2 1/2 hours!  Again your father wasn’t worried, but then he wasn’t the one going through it.  So we are still are still anxiously awaiting your arrival, more and more each day.