Greetings to our Beat community near and far! We’re happy to have you with us once again for the deep and powerful writing of incarcerated youth across the country.
We’re excited to welcome our colleague Omar Turcios to the editorial section as he introduces us to his new baby boy, Jayden David! We hope you’ll enjoy the story he shares with us of his son’s birth and blossoming personality. Welcome Omar, and welcome Baby David!
Welcome back to another double dose edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is the only magazine coming at you every two weeks, filled with great poetry, great art, and a bunch of good hearted souls pouring their stories out each and every single week.
It’s OT back at you live and direct with another hot spiel of day, week or month. As I may have recently shared with you all, I recently had my first son, (shout out to my twin daughters), They are both grown now, eighteen years old. They were born on February 7th, 2006. You will always be Daddy’s Little Girls. I love you.
Well, being a father, this time around (again) is kind of different. The first time around I was living life kind of reckless. I was still knee deep in the streets. There was a lot street violence in my area. Gang wars were prevalent and dominated the headlines in the Bay Area.
I remember at the time working at The Beat office and balancing another overnight job at Home Depot. I was living life way too fast. I hardly slept, and any free time was purely dedicated to doing things that I probably shouldn’t have been doing. This time around things are much more different.
My son wasn’t born a preemie like my daughters were and I remember that they were born so, so little that they had to be hospitalized for the first three months. I actually do remember their weight. Estella weighed 2.5 pounds and Mariellena weighed 3.3 pounds. My son, Jayden David Turcios, weighed almost nine pounds at birth. That’s more than twice, and he was born on his actual estimated birth date.
So, there are various differences and challenges between the two newborn experiences for me. The first three months of my daughters’ lives they were in the wonderful care of nurses and doctors in Walnut Creek. This next time around my son was born on the 6th of November and was released just two days later. So, this time around I’m really learning how to take care of a newborn.
I had to pause for a moment because he woke up and I had to put him back to sleep. He only drinks milk from his mom’s breast, so his mom has to be really careful in the things that she can and can’t eat. I have to help her with making sure her diet is right, because one thing about the hospitals here in a different part of the world, is they don’t explain to you anything.
Everything is based off of knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation and to me that doesn’t cut it. There are facts of what you can’t do and what you can do with a newborn recommended just about by any doctor that’s experienced in that field. I’m not gonna lie people, Google and various well respected pediatric websites have been a big help.
I don’t do social media. I don’t watch any videos on TikTok. I take my time and read through articles to find out very important information on how to take care of my son and make sure I’m doing things right to make sure he’s in great health. He has been congested and there are not many remedies for a newborn not even three weeks into this world.
He likes to be held a lot. When he wakes up, and I’m here, I always carry him. I put his head on my chest and pat his bottom lightly the whole time and before you know it he is sleeping. Last night, while I was writing this I was interrupted by his yell. He doesn’t cry a lot. He yells like one time and makes a sad face. He looks so adorable yet as a parent it pains you to even see them make that face.
It pains you as a parent to see a little defenseless beautiful baby that you helped bring into this world, suffering or having breathing difficulties because of a cold. But yesterday as it was just me and him around midnight, we were having a conversation. Of course, I’m doing most of the talking.
He doesn’t talk yet, but his eyes are so powerful that they penetrate every piece of my soul and tell me what he’s thinking. I’m thirty-nine years old, and if I want to live long enough to walk him and his future love of his life down the aisle, I know there are changes that I need to make to my lifestyle to be healthier. I need to eat healthier, and make sure everything I put into my body is for the benefit of my longevity of being alive for as long as I can.
Because just like, as adults we take care of our newborn babies, we’re doing ourselves a disservice if we don’t do our best to also take care of our own health. I’ve never been a cigarette smoker, in my entire lifetime. I’ve always preferred my medicinal herbal tea. I didn’t grow up smoking cigarettes. But when the pandemic changed the world forever, I think because of my anxiety I started smoking cigarettes. I’ve tried to stop on several occasions but for some odd reason I always go back to smoking. At my age, it’s a high health risk, matter of fact it’s an extremely high health risk. So, this is it for me. I’m not going to smoke anymore. I can thank my baby Jayden David Turcios for that. Because I hadn’t put much thought into it, until he came into my life.
This goes to show that no matter how old you are and how much you think you know everything, there is always something that we can improve on as humans. So, I’m gonna do my best to be there for my son, today, tomorrow and in the future. I also promise to do the same for many of my loved ones, and my extended family here at The Beat Within, all of you. Life goes on, The Beat goes on, and David Inocencio lives on…in our words, deeds, and hearts.
One love to everybody! OT and Baby David are signing out with the utmost love and respect to each and every single one of you!
Thank you, Omar, for your reminder that our journeys are in a constant state of change and improvement. We’re honored to know the story of your new son, and can’t wait to hear about all the wonderful things you’ll show him as he grows up.
And thank you to our readers, as always, for trusting us with your testimonies, your hopes and dreams, your frustrations, and your points of view. Stay warm out there! The nights are long, but may the fire within each of us burn bright and true.