Our Last Day at the Hospital

Well, all is well with Stepheni and the baby and we went home.  There was a beautiful north window in our room that was letting in some amazing light, so I decided to take advantage of it all =)  For your viewing pleasure.

An update on their health

Hey everyone, thanks for having an interest in our family and our well-being.  Stepheni is up and feeding Ephraim right now, and I am torturing him with a baby wipe to keep him conscious and feeding.  Little stinker goes right to sleep when Stepheni is trying nurse him.

Dr. Haun came in this morning and gave us the skinny on Stepheni and Ephraim's conditions.  Ephraim is officially cleared to go home, he has been dirtying enough diapers to show that he is healthy and metabolizing the food.  As for Stepheni they are taking her off the antibiotics today to see how she does.  Last night she had a fever, from how long her water had been broken when she was delivered is what Dr. Haun said.  So, if all goes well today then we will be going home tomorrow morning!

Last night was my first encounter with a screaming, inconsolable baby and Stepheni was fantastically patient the whole time.  I on the other hand was still dealing with the same headache that I had been enjoying for the last day, and was not nearly as patient.  Something about a screaming child in your arms with whom you have no ability to reason with that makes me all grumpy.  Stepheni calmed him down by nursing him, but it took some time.

First night of many, right?  Whee!

Ephraim Alexander Beckman

Yeah, he's pretty cute.

So there are plenty of questions about the name change and our reasons, so I thought I'd clear that up.

Etienne was our choice for quite awhile for his first name, it is the French variation on Stephen.  We decided on that for awhile, because I thought it would be cool to have another Stephen in the family -Stephen, Stepheni, and Etienne- and Stepheni liked it because it was a family name.  We still like the name, but when it came time to put it down on paperwork and even before then we had second thoughts.  Every time Stepheni would tell someone what his name was going to be, we always had to repeat herself, sometimes several times, and it would always get weird looks.  We didn't want him to go through that his whole life, yeah he could have gone by Alex or Alexander from his middle name, but then why name him Etienne in the first place?

Second off, there was no real motivation to name him that beyond being a unique name.

So, we began looking back at our list and started over by looking at all the names we did like.  Yesterday, when the missionaries came to accompany me in giving Stepheni a blessing, it meant so much to me that they were worthy, willing, and excited to help us.  I want to teach Ephraim that story as he grows up and tie that in with his name just like Helaman did with his sons Nephi and Lehi (Helaman 5:6-7) in the Book of Mormon.

"Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.  Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them."

So, we considered the Elder's names, which didn't ring right, and several others, and finally settled on Ephraim, the "missionary" tribe.  It will be a good point of teaching, a great example, and a good reminder of righteousness and responsibility.  We prayed about it finally and felt good about our decision.  

Alexander ties in well with it as well, he being Stepheni's great-grandfather and one of the first members to join the Church in Norway, even when it was still illegal to do so.  Stepheni will talk more on that in her own blog.  

Hope this clears it up!

A moment's respite (i.e. the calm before the storm part 2)

I'm still waiting for screaming at some point, none yet.

We got in to see the midwife this morning at about 10am and spent some time there on this crazy little contraption that measures the baby's heart rate and the contractions.  It was fun to see how the machine worked and try to get baby to move for us.  Speaking of which, we are now trying to finalize the name we are picking for him.  I'm in favor of Ephraim, but we want to wait to see him to decide finally.

We spent today running around and finalizing some stuff, getting a breast pump to use and try to get some oxytocin flowing to get the contractions to work for us before we would have to go to the hospital.  For awhile they were coming on, a little randomly but every few minutes and lasting for at least 45 seconds to a minute.  We took a few careful walks and mostly just tried to keep moving.  The goal is to get some real labor going by 3am (24 hours after her water broke) or they will have to use pitocin, which we are trying to avoid since they make the contractions a bit more painful than they normally would be.

We checked into the hospital at around 9, and they immediately got her into a room.  Her gown is pretty cute, but she wouldn't let me show any of those pictures to the public, alas.  Luckily they have wifi here so I can work on stuff while Stepheni is resting.

Truth be told I would rather be the one in bed with an IV and having contractions, Stepheni takes better care of me than I do of her and I don't like seeing her in pain like this.  I keep a smile on my face and keep positive, for Stepheni and for her mom who has been fretting back in Illinois.

Thanks for all the prayers and the love.

The calm before the storm

It's like, 4:30 in the morning right now.  Sometime around 3 Stepheni woke me up with a grab at my ankle.  She was kind of hunched over-like, "I think my water just broke".  Geez, all these announcements when a guy's trying to get some sleep.

She had in fact sprung a leak, and it just kept on coming.  She kept leaking as we started making some last minute preparations, texting the parents, calling the midwives, packing a few last things, checking Facebook.  You know, the important things.  Stepheni described the amniotic fluid as colorless and odorless, and while I would say so, I would say so mostly. I smelt the towel that she conveniently soaked through, and I got the urge to clean, eat fried foods, and cry all at the same time.  Potent stuff, do not ingest.

The midwife on call instructed us to wait until about 9am when the hospital desk opens and go in there, because as of right now Stepheni isn't having any contractions.  Not the greatest because the contractions are supposed to come first and then the water breaking, because apparently there is a greater risk of infection if the contractions don't follow soon thereafter.  So in a few hours we will go in and they may induce her to help things proceed, simply because of the chance of infection.  Not ideal, but I hear that babies make hash of your plans anyways, so we might as well start here.  I gave Stepheni a blessing and we pray that things continue naturally without the need of drugs or intervention.

So now, I'm chilling here, pretty excited, waiting until all the hoodlums go home so I can go out and put in the carseat and load up the pillows so we can go to the hospital at 9, probably making a stop somewhere they serve unhealthy food before we do, y'know, for Mom.  ;-)

Let it be known, that during all this, Stepheni has been completely rational.  I dunno what they are talking about on TV where the parents are freaking out and going crazy when someone's water breaks. Bah, Hollywood.

Oh yeah, I don't have to go to work today!

Packing

I've discovered it's one of my least favorite things
(Note the dead look in my eyes)

I mean it's great to clean and to see from a general level of chaos
come a certain amount of order.

Maybe it's just the moving all the boxes from Rexburg to San Antonio
and how much it will cost that is such a bother.  The bees are all the contractors
that want to take my hunny, I mean munny.  Our friends have come to help, Mike and Zak so far.  Thanks again, guys!

But this is all for a good cause, I remind myself.  

And, really, it is all because I got a job down in San Antonio.  

Thank you for all your prayers and support, and thanks to USAA for hiring me!  
Back to packing!

Back in her arms again

It's great to be back from Seattle.  The expedition was great but it is nice to be back with Stepheni and not waking up alone again.  I would really like to go back there someday to spend some time with Stepheni there touring the city and eating at the restaurants there.  Justin and I walked by the famous Ruth's Chris steakhouse and had enough time to look at the menu.  It wasn't too expensive:  We would have just had to cut everything in half and share the plate of food they brought us to afford it.  I'll go back one day ;-)

Stepheni and I had some time to go shopping today, and we ended up buying Lady and the Tramp and Puss in Boots, both of which we love!  It ended up costing us a pretty penny, but we feel like it is a good investment for our kids one day as they are good, clean Disney movies and Blu-Ray.  We had a chance to talk about what we want for our children in terms of entertainment and came up with some ideas:

1.  No cable:  We don't watch it as it is, and we don't feel that cable TV has anything to offer to our kids.  If we want some educational material then we can go out and buy it.  Stepheni brought up as well that keeping the TV off for the first two years of Etienne's life will be fairly easy and what she would like to do, but we will have to decide what to do with our second child as Etienne will want to watch TV and the other may not be two already; something to think about.

2.  One family computer:  While Stepheni and I will have our tablets and phones, we feel like it is important to have one family computer (probably an iMac due to the family settings it has) and have that be available but supervised.  We've talked about the importance of using the tools that are available in the world but knowing how to leave inappropriate content is an important skill to develop and something we want to teach our children.  YouTube is full of great information but it is also full of garbage as well, the same goes for Facebook, LinkedIn, and the internet at large!

3.  Look at the ratings and reviews.  Looking at websites like Common Sense Media, imdb Parents Guide, Kids in Mind, and Parent Previews are great resources to find out why movies are rated the way they are, and teaching our children to look at ratings and gauge whether it sounds like something good to go to  even with G and PG-rated movies will teach them to make good moral decisions early on.  Thinking back to the counsel given to us to "be in the world but not of the world" is something not only wise but necessary in this day and age.  There is a lot of great content out there, but knowing how to filter through it and find what is good and wholesome therein is a necessary skill for everyone that wants to lead a wholesome and uplifting life.

Thanks for reading.

Life recently

Just to catch everyone up on the recent goings-on in the Beckman Household, we have been fairly busy:  Stepheni has been working hard as ever, and keeping us going financially by working at Jefferson Elementary as a preschool teacher!  She does such a good job, which is evidenced by her great love and patience for the little devils.  I've made token efforts at bringing home a paycheck, but $8 an hour doesn't compare to a salary =P  I'll make up for it when I have a real job.  Speaking of which:

The other stuff going on is my job search right now.  (For tips and tricks on such ventures look at my most recent posts on my other blog, here.)  Really I've been applying just about everywhere it feels like; I'll go in little spurts making and entering 3-4 applications a few times a week.  It's working out pretty well though so far, as I've had two interviews and both of them went very well.  I'm in the middle of interviewing with USAA and Epic right now, and both have been super great about communicating and talking with me about the process and any questions I have.  Both also happen to be involved in Healthcare, interestingly enough.

Big recommendation:  Keep you LinkedIn up-to-date and active!

Also:  Stepheni is pregnant!  Yeah, we all already know this, but I haven't announced it on here.  It has become much more real, now that we know that it's a little baby boy growing in there.  We are both very excited though, and have been looking at baby clothes much more often now =)

So, all in all, things are pretty awesome!  Thanks for reading.