Thomas Origin Story

October 27, 2024

Mom and dad are married! They love each other so much and are excited to make their family official.

December 19, 2024

Mom gets her IUD removed hoping to have a baby in the new year! Dad is on board and excited!

January 19, 2025

Mom feels sick, so she thinks she's pregnant! She tells Teta Skin on the Cleveland Slovenian Ski Club trip. Turns out to be an oopsies since Mom's pregnancy tests were all negative after that! But she just had that feeling.

February 3, 2025

Thomas is conceived days after Mom went body sliding on her tummy down the mountain at Holiday Valley during Grandma's Ladies Ski Weekend trip.

February 17, 2025 - 4 weeks pregnant (LMP 1/21)

Mom menstruates and tells dad no baby this time! We'll try again next time! Then she takes a pregnancy test and it says positive!! She immediately runs downstairs to let dad read the test and discover the news! He is very very happy and gives mom a big embrace. Uncle Ryan is living with Mom and Dad, so they go upstairs to Ryan's room, tell him they got Covid, and throw the pregnancy test at him. Uncle Ryan is very excited.

February 23, 2025 - 4 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad have Grammy, Grandma, Grandpa, Teta Skin, and Uncle Ryan over for chinese takeout dinner. Dad gives them all lottery scratch off tickets and explains they're from Elliot's sketchy crypto company (hence the misspellings and randomness of it all). Everyone starts scratching. Uncle Ryan scratches first and already knows the news, so he keeps it to himself! Grammy runs away to get her glasses because she can't read hers without them. Grandpa is next and he tries to read it without glasses but is saying things that are totally incorrect! Finally Teta Skin scratches and says "We're having a baby!". So Grandma asks her "YOU'RE HAVING A BABY?" thinking that's totally silly but also slightly concerned. Teta Skin is silent for a while then looks over at Mom and Dad and Ryan and realizes the news. Both grandmas get emotional. Everyone is very excited!

March 11, 2025 - 7 weeks pregnant

First appointment! We see the baby in the ultrasound. Mom stops going to barre and exercising around this time since she feels too sick and tired.

March 15, 2025 - 8 weeks pregnant

Family ski trip to Utah for the 30 year anniversary of when Grandma, Grandpa, Great Teta Theresa, and Great Uncle Tim met in their 20s on a Slovenian ski trip in Salt Lake City. Mom is very sick. She only sleeps and eats. She feels nauseous and not really present. Mom, Dad, and Teta Skin also visit Diogo, Krissy and baby Melly at their home. Mom, Krissy, and Melly visit the Great Salt Lake. Mom feels like she's looking at a postcard. This is her lowest point in pregnancy. Grandpa parties hard!

April 3, 2025 - 10 weeks pregnant

Mom's last day of work as an Engineer at Onguard Seismic Systems! It was too difficult for her to work with weird hours and in isolation. Mom also needs lots of naps throughout the day. She is happy to be focused on being a mom going forward.

April 10, 2025 - 11 weeks pregnant

Mom flies to Colorado alone to visit Julia since Dad feels sick. Mom is happy to feel like she's showing her bump and is starting to feel good enough to hike the mountains of Colorado.

April 18, 2025 - 12 weeks pregnant

Teta Skin puts on a gender reveal party two days before Easter. She hides easter eggs and we look all over Grandma and Grandpa's house for the eggs. There is one last egg in Teta Skin's hat that points to a basket in her car full of baby boy items! Mom and Dad reveal the baby's name will be Thomas Andrew Bezman.

April 30, 2025 - 14 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad fly to NYC to see the Charli XCX Brat Tour at Barclay's center and visit Dad's side of the family. Mom decides she likes NYC that trip since the weather is so beautiful and she could walk everywhere. On Mom and Dad's last day in NYC, they planned to go to visit One World Observatory. When they got to Grand Central Station, they saw a train leaving soon for Connecticut, so they decided to go visit Andrew instead.

May 18, 2025 - 16 weeks pregnant

Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma watch Teta Skin run her first marathon in Cleveland. Mom runs with Teta Skin towards the end. Dad and Grandma electric scooter with Teta Skin close to the finish line. Unfortunately, Teta Skin was way too fast! Dad and Grandma could not catch her.

June 5, 2025 - 19 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad fly to Los Angeles for Jordan and Cam's wedding in Malibu. Mom eats McDonalds in Jordan's getting ready room just before the ceremony. Mom and Dad have fun on the beach with their friends but think this wedding has way too many afterparties! They feel responsible compared to their single partying friends.

June 14, 2025 - 20 weeks pregnant

Grandma turns 60 and has a big bday bash! Mom and Teta Skin make a big flower pinata. Mom and Teta Skin try to run a ping pong tournament, but it's hard to find everyone in the bracket! Grandma and Grandpa have too many friends!

June 24, 2025 - 22 weeks pregnant

Mom gets diagnosed with hypothyroidism. She has more energy throughout the day after getting on medication.

June 26, 2025 - 22 weeks pregnant

Mom helps host a bachelorette party for Carolyn. She needs rescuing from Grandpa because the bed at the airbnb is too hard. He supplies extra pillows.

July 6, 2025 - 23 weeks pregnant

Andrew visits! During the day he does wooden bird carving class with Mom. The class is more intense than they anticipated, and all the 70+ year old people there don't understand Mom's relationship with Andrew. Mom falls behind in painting and has to blow dry her bird and she sweats ferociously. At night Dad puts Andrew to work with drywall in the hallway and bathroom renovation near the garage. Mom and Dad play a lot of tennis with Teta Skin and friends around this time.

July 25, 2025 - 26 weeks pregnant

Mom and Grandma work on the tiling project! They are quite the duo - a pregnant lady and a 60 year old. They have lots of fun doing it and feel very capable.

August 10, 2025 - 28 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad have a big party at our house - a combined baby shower, birthday party, and housewarming! It's a big party with about 100 people. Mom turns 28 years old. Sofia, Renatto, Ryan the Jew, Grammy, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Kelly are visiting. Sofia doesn't like that mom curses and listens to rated R music like Charli XCX Guess.

August 25, 2025 - 30 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad go to Canada for their babymoon. It's Dad's first trip to Canada. He is very impressed with Niagara falls. Mom and Dad make a spontaneous trip to Toronto to see Dad's coworker's new baby. On the way home they make another spontaneous trip to see Max and Hannah's baby. Seeing the babies help Mom and Dad see the reality coming their way! Dad also buys hockey gear in Toronto for a good price in anticipation of joining the Euclid Senior Hockey League. Mom quits barre a few days later since she's too pregnant to do it anymore!

August 30, 2025 - 31 weeks pregnant

Mom and Dad buy a GMC Yukon XL! They want a big car so nobody gets left out of family trips and outings.

September 3, 2025 - 31 weeks pregnant

Mom goes back to Niagara falls with Maddie for her first trip to Canada! The border patrol agent asks them if their husbands are aware that they're going to Canada. Then they stay in Ellicottville and see the Lumineers in concert. They have fun at Denny's at like 2am after the concert. Mom feels large and her back hurts. She doesn't climb the spiral staircase, and she brings her own chair and towel to the concert. Mom gets extra looks while walking to the concert since she is so strong but still clearly pregnant.

September 12, 2025 - 33 weeks pregnant

Mom tries to teach Lola to swim at Edgewater beach. Lola is very scared but will follow Mom into deeper waters. She splashes way too much and does some crying but is a very brave girl.

September 25, 2025 - 35 weeks pregnant

Mom sees Vance Joy in concert with Katie, Teta Skin, Adriana, and Grandma and her friends. They sit in the accessibility seating since Mom's back is still a problem. Vance Joy high fives them many times and a picture of the group gets posted to Vance Joy's Instagram. They feel Instagram famous !

October 11, 2025 - 37 weeks pregnant

It's Carolyn and Thomas Martin's wedding! Mom is a bridesmaid. After the hot service at the church she boards a party bus tired and hungry. Unfortunately there are only sub sandwiches on the bus, and Mom isn't supposed to eat those since she's pregnant! Dad saves the day by bringing her a double cheeseburger and fries while the bridal party is taking photos at the art museum. Everyone swears Thomas will be born the next day since Mom is so pregnant she can barely walk. And she polka'd way too hard!

October 12, 2025 - 37 weeks pregnant

Dad has his first day in the Euclid Senior Hockey League. He joins the Black team and Teta Skin is on the Blue Team (the Jacks). Dad tries hard to learn the rules and the positions, but it turns out there are no rules and not even any goalies for the game! They play with nets inside of nets instead of having goalies. Dad is falling everywhere. Everyone thinks Dad is not a great skater, but Mom knows better! It turns out that brand new skates don't come sharpened. Dad was skating without any edges! Everyone is surprised Thomas isn't born yet.

October 20, 2025 - 38 weeks pregnant

Thomas shifts position, so Mom feels very comfortable! Her back doesn't hurt anymore and Thomas isn't pushing down anymore! She starts hiking 3 miles most days with Grandma at North Chagrin Reservation. Lola gets covered in lots of seeds that Mom has to pick out after each hike.

October 28, 2025 - 40 weeks pregnant

It's Thomas's due date, but he's still not born! He seems extremely comfortable. Mom thinks he will never want to come out. Mom and Dad schedule an induction for November 5, 2025.

October 30, 2025 - 40 weeks pregnant

At 8pm Mom announces that Thomas will not be born that day, as she has every night for the past few nights, since birth takes longer than a few hours! She also announces that Thomas will not be born the next day since she does not want a Halloween baby. At 10pm Mom feels contractions and still thinks they're Braxton Hicks. Dad thinks they're real, and he turns out to be correct! Mom is in labor.

She calls Julia, but she has to take breaks talking because the pain is really intense immediately. She doesn't expect this to happen so fast! Dad goes downstairs to talk to his friends on the computer for a little while, but they encourage him to sleep while he can! He comes back upstairs and tells Mom it's time for bed. Dad falls asleep.

Mom spends the entire evening pacing the hallway between the bed and the bathroom. She doesn't want to wake Dad and feels she can handle herself, but the pain keeps getting more intense! Her contractions are coupling up, so the pattern goes contraction, contraction, rest. The rests aren't so restful though because she spends them on the toilet! Some bowel movements are more painful than contractions.

October 31, 2025 - 40 weeks pregnant

Happy Halloween! Mom hasn't gotten any sleep. She wakes up Dad at 6am. Dad is surprised that Mom says it's time to get ready for the hospital. He calls the Doula - Danielle Breech. Danielle coaches Mom through contractions at home and tells Mom to make deep noises while breathing. Mom would rather stay quiet but trusts Danielle. She is trying to wait for Danielle to say it's time to go to the Hillcrest Hospital because she feels she should be there already! Finally Danielle says it's time to go, and they arrive at the hospital at 9am.

Mom and Dad expect to be greeted by professionals upon arrival at the hospital but there's just a lady at a desk! Dad asks for a wheelchair for Mom who is completely disassociating at this point and making lots of noise. Dad makes a phone call on a red wall mounted telephone in a separate room to tell Labor and Delivery that they are ready to come up! Mom and Dad think this is a silly system. When Mom is being checked in at Labor and Delivery, she cannot answer any of the questions because she's in too much pain to focus on anything but her labor. Her body is shaking and sweating ferociously nonstop. Mom is 5cm dilated, -2 station, and 90% effaced.

Mom is excited to start nitrous oxide as part of her birth plan. She keeps inhaling through the tube, but it's not helping the pain! After a good chunk of time, Mom asks if they can increase the gas output. Danielle checks the gas machine and finds that the tubes aren't even hooked up! Mom was getting zero pain relief. Danielle and Dad try to fix the tubes but the fittings are all wrong! Mom never gets any gas.

At 11am Mom is totally exhausted. She asks the nurses how much longer her labor will be, and they say at least 4 more hours. Other than that one question, Mom has been almost entirely mute. Her progress has totally halted. An anesthesiologist comes by and asks Mom if she wants an epidural. Mom considers him and decides yes. Danielle is surprised by this decision since it's not in Mom's birth plan, but Mom wants to be conscious when the baby arrives! Dad and Danielle are required to leave the room during the epidural procedure, and Mom trusts the team. The team tells Mom to expect 60% pain reduction. They insert a urine catheter. Dad goes to the Panera Bread inside of the hospital and gets a nice meal!

After the procedure Dad and Danielle return to the room, and Mom is feeling great!! She feels zero pain and can't believe she's still having contractions! And she can move her legs. She is totally elated. She tells the nurses "Welcome to my party!" when they enter the room. When Mom notices that her IV drip says fentanyl, she is surprised since fentanyl is a drug that's commonly in the news for recreationally killing people. She invites Grandma for a visit in the delivery room and facetimes Sofia. The bone broth at the hospital tastes so good, but Mom wants some real food! Danielle says it's ok to sneak in some food, so Dad brings Mom a grilled cheese sandwich from the pub next door. Mom also eats two of Grandma's healthy muffins.

At 3pm the midwife checks the baby's position. He is back-to-back (sunny side up). No wonder Mom was having such difficult labor. No progress has been made since check in. The midwife ruptures Mom's waters. Danielle and the midwife get serious about getting Mom in different birthing positions to rotate the baby. Mom can move herself into different positions, which is incredible considering she's on an epidural and feeling zero pain.

At 9pm Mom is given pitocin. Labor begins progressing slowly, so it seems like Thomas won't be a Halloween baby! At midnight mom calls for her midwife since she feels pressure. Mom measures 8cm dilated, 0 station, and 90% effaced. Mom gets some sleep so she'll have energy to push the next day. Dad has a great sleep setup with his sleeping bag on the couch.

November 1, 2025 - Thomas's birthday

At 3:30am Mom is ready to start pushing. She wakes up Dad and Danielle. Dad goes to take a look, and he sees the baby's head!! This is the second morning he wakes up to a big surprise. Mom is put in a side laying position, and Dad holds her leg. The midwife brings Mom a mirror so she can see if she's pushing properly. Mom likes pushing. Finally it's something she can control and put effort to! The pain is very manageable. Mom only pushes for a half hour, and Thomas is born at 4:13am! Dad clamps the chord, and Mom is given more pitocin for placenta delivery. Mom has light tearing.

Mom and Dad can't believe how handsome Thomas looks! They were expecting more bumps and bruises like they were shown in the horror pictures from the birthing classes. Thomas measures 8lb 10oz and 20 inches (but Mom and Dad hear 27 inches and don't get corrected by anyone for days!). Thomas immediately latches for breastfeeding and is given supplemental colostrum via syringe. Mom's first meal is eggs and bacon. It's one of the best tasting meals she's ever had.

All the beds are full in the Postpartum unit, so the Bezmans are stuck in Labor and Delivery. Mom's back hurts from laying on the hard bed. By the way, her bed has been broken the entire time. The bed does not incline. Luckily the nurses in Labor and Delivery are super nice and feel grateful to have more time with us! They take Thomas (who they named Big Baby) on a parade through the hospital unit so that Dad can get some sleep.

November 2, 2025 - 1 day postpartum

At 9am a bed finally opens up in the Postpartum unit. Before they leave the room, Dad does a diaper change. The diaper is full of lots of meconium! During the change, the stuff just keeps coming out of Thomas like an ice cream machine! And then he pees all over himself! The nurses who are patiently trying to move us watch and laugh with us. Nobody can believe how much meconium comes out of little Thomas. Eventually Thomas stops pooping and Mom gets a more comfy and operational bed.

Mom orders the same breakfast and is confused why her eggs are in the shape of an ice cream scoop. Dad realizes the eggs Mom was eating weren't even real! The weekend shift kitchen workers don't try to disguise the low quality food like the shift workers did the day before. Mom is still extremely excited about the food though, since it's basically free and unlimited and she can request it at any time by calling "5" on the hospital bed phone.

The nurses ask Mom to urinate, and she tries as hard as she possibly can, but it does not work. At one point she secretly falls off the toilet, but she picks herself back up. Her legs still aren't trustworthy. The nurses insert another urine catheter. Mom likes having it since she doesn't have to leave her bed to relive herself and can focus on resting.

The Bezmans welcome Grandma, Grandpa, Teta Skin, Uncle Bill, Papa, Mama, and Grammy for visits. Everyone holds Thomas. After Papa leaves, Mom is very surprised to get a call on her hospital bed phone. She didn't even know that was possible! The call is from Judy - Papa's new girlfriend. She needs to be rescued from TJ Maxx because she has the car without any keys or phone. Papa has the car keys, and Judy's phone was left in the car. This means Papa is also stuck in the Hospital lobby since Judy can't pick him up without the keys. Dad drives Papa in his car to rescue Judy and save the day. Mom thinks it's silly that out of all the people in the world Judy could have called, she chose the person who just gave birth and then somehow acquired her hospital room telephone number.

Breastfeeding still seems to be going well, but Mom's nipples hurt badly from cracking. The lactation consultant doesn't provide anything that causes relief. Mom enjoys an evening walk around the hospital. A delivery nurse recognises Mom in the hallway and is excited to hear that the famous Big Baby is doing well.

November 3, 2025 - 2 days postpartum

Mom is still loving the hospital food. Mom and Dad have a good flow with caring for Thomas.

A new lactation consultant visits and is acting like a drill sergeant. She immediately demands that Thomas needs to be fed since his hands are by his face. Mom and Dad try to tell her that he always has his hands by his face and that he was fed recently but she doesn't listen. She says that Mom is doing many things wrong, including holding Thomas in the wrong position, not latching him on properly, and leaving him in the bassinet too much - all within minutes of her arrival. She makes mom hand express more milk into Thomas while he's drinking even though Thomas is already overwhelmed by the flow rate. After she leaves Thomas vomits everywhere. Mom and Dad feel extremely emotionally defeated and reach a new low point (This ends up being the lowest point in Thomas's early life). Dad calls Maddie who explains that hospital lactation consultants suck and are mean. Mom and Dad decide to disregard everything the lady said and try to get back to their own routine.

Mom and Thomas are discharged from the hospital. Dad gets the Tesla, and Mom and baby are wheeled down. Thomas's newborn pajamas are way too big on him. When Mom and Dad get home, they can't believe how comfortable their mattress is and how easy velcro swaddles are to use. They feel set up for success!

November 4, 2025 - 3 days postpartum

The first night went well! Thomas slept in a bedside bassinet on Dad's side of the bed.

Later that morning, Grammy brings Lola home from her stay at the Mitskavichs' house. Grammy is very helpful during the day at the house. Lola is scared of Thomas at first and keeps backing away. She slowly gets more comfortable with him. The Bezmans are happy to have all the members of their new family together and are excited for a future with baby Thomas!