Beckham's Photo Shoot

Our friend Alta took some pictures of Beckham for us when he was 12 days old. Here are a few of my favorites...

If you want to see the rest, here's a link to view them on picasa...

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=SeanMStanley&target=ALBUM&id=5605017378989018081&authkey=Gv1sRgCP7Tn7ev3MWDBQ&feat=email

Thanks again Alta!!!

Beckham Michael Stanley

We are now officially part of the "parent blogging club"--you know what I'm talking about--people whose blog posts revolve around their kids. That's right--Beckham Michael Stanley (6 lbs 7 ozs) was born on Easter Sunday, April 24th at 1:55 am. He is easily the cutest and most interesting of the 3 of us, so in my opinion, why should I bother blogging about anything else, haha :)

Well, like I said, Beckham was born on April 24th, and boy was he a surprise! I wasn't due for another week (May 1st) and was convinced that I'd go past my due date, so we weren't expecting him at all when he came. I'd had an appointment with my midwife (midwives are just how they do things over here in England--free healthcare and all) the day before and was scheduled to go back to see her in 2 weeks on May 6th. I was hoping he would decide to come before then, but wasn't entirely convinced he would. Let's just say his timing couldn't have worked out any better. He came in time for Sean to spend a lot of time with us that first week and get adjusted back to studying before his finals start this next Monday.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize if this is too much information for some people, but I figure putting it down here saves me from having to tell the story over and over. Stop now if you don't want all the details :)

I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good and decided to run a couple of errands in the afternoon while Sean was down at school studying for his upcoming finals. There were a few more things I wanted to get to pack in my hospital bag "just in case" he decided to come in the next week or so. I took the metro out to my first stop, did my shopping, and was back on the metro headed to another store when I started feeling tired and uncomfortable and decided to just turn around and head home to lay down instead. I got home around 4:30 and laid down on the couch. By 6 I was having some mild contractions about every 15 minutes or so, but still nothing strong enough to make me think that I was really in labor. Sean got home shortly after that and slowly the contractions started getting closer and stronger. By 9:30, they were about every 6-7 minutes so I decided it was time to call the Maternity Assessment Unit at the hospital to get their advice on when to come in. They told me to wait a little longer and see if the contractions slowed down or got closer and to call back if they started getting worse. After taking a hot bath and some tylenol, I decided to go lay on the bed and we started watching some Big Bang Theory on the computer to try to take my mind off the pain. After the first episode, my contractions were about the same as before, and the all of a sudden around 11:30, it was like someone snapped their fingers and they got to be around every 3-4 minutes and a LOT stronger. I called back, they said to come in, and Sean started calling cabs and running around grabbing everything while I just laid on the bed. After calling 4 or 5 different cab services (the first few said the soonest they could have someone there wasn't for at least 20-30 minutes), Sean found one that could be pick us up in 5 minutes. I threw on the first clothes I saw, slowly made my way down our 4 flights of stairs, and barely got myself into the cab for the long, bumpy, 5 minute ride to the hospital.

When we finally got up to the maternity unit, they sent me to the waiting room! Apparently a couple other girls had shown up just before us and were currently in the assessment rooms getting checked. After sitting in the waiting room for about 15 minutes, they came and took us back to the assessment room where the midwife checked to see how far I was. I was already 8 or 9 centimeters, so they got me over to a delivery room right away. The "funny" part is, I had told Sean on the cab ride over that I would be ticked if they sent us home and that I better be able to get an epidural! Well, we definitely weren't going home, and I definitely wasn't getting my epidural--I was too far along at that point. They did give me gas & air (basically laughing gas), which definitely helped at least some, but was still no epidural! Anyway maybe 30 minutes (to be honest, I didn't really have a great sense of time at that point, haha) or so after getting to the delivery room, my water broke, and 10 minutes of pushing later, Beckham was born. While I was getting stitched up, Sean was able to Skype with our parents back home and introduce them to our little guy (all the nurses and midwives thought it was the coolest thing that we were "talking to America" on the computer :).

With how quickly everything had happened, it still seemed surreal that he was really here, but the second that he was in my arms for the first time, I knew he was perfect! We are so excited he's here and love every minute with him--except maybe the pooping...and peeing on himself...and mommy's lack of sleep...Just kidding :)

Anyway, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :)

Welcome to the world...

Happy Easter!!!

Content after his first bath...

Just got home...

It's pretty tiring being so cute!!!