when a plan doesn't come together

Had everything gone according to the plan*, at this moment I could probably tell you how many hours we had until Colin's arrival. I would be so much more uncomfortable than I am right now. I am so glad things didn't go according to plan, but it turns out I can be a bit of a control freak, and I didn't really see that initially.

Last Monday night, Stinky and I had gone through the nightly snuggle during the evening news and he'd fallen asleep. I got something to eat and took something to help me sleep. I got back in bed, took one bite, and my water broke. I panicked. With Stinky, that never happened. Also, my family was leaving at o'dark thirty the next day to attend my grandfather's funeral in Arizona and to be honest, I really wanted my mommy at that moment. This changed everything. Telling WBH what had happened, I completely lost it.

On the phone with the birth center, the nurse asked me a lot of questions, and told us to come in. "You should know, "she said, "when you get here, you're going to have your c-section. I just want to give you time to wrap your head around that. Your baby will be born tonight."

That night, WBH shaved 20 minutes off of his good-traffic travel time. He joked that if we were pulled over, the officer would see the suitcases and heard the words that were coming out of my mouth and we'd probably get an escort to the hospital. Contractions, which hadn't bothered me all day, were coming hard and fast since my water had broken, and I said a few things that don't need to be repeated. In between pains, I kept saying to my belly "We had a plan, kid! This is not it!"

We'll skip the details of the surgery- honestly, I had taken something to help me sleep, and once I was numb I wanted to take a nap, so I don't remember a lot before hearing my baby's first cry. Those cries wake us up right from the start, don't they? When Colin was born he let out a scream and kept on going, yelling his displeasure at all within the sound of his voice. He was big and loud, and apparently this wasn't in his plan, either. We had to laugh as the nurse said "Whoa there, Bubba." He was born just a few hours into his Uncle Bubba's birthday.

Recovery went well. I was up and moving much earlier than with Stinky's delivery. My family was able to come and meet Colin before they hit the road. Stinky and WBH's parents visited later that day as well. Stinky came in and asked immediately, "Where's my baby?" The look on his face when he first saw him was heaven. He didn't take his eyes off him, until we gave him his gift from Colin: a robotic dinosaur puppet.


We spent two days at the hospital- my recovery was pretty normal and Colin adjusted well to life on the outside. We were glad to have the time just the three of us, but I wanted to go home, and I missed my Stinkasaurus Rex.

Time at home has been good. Stinky still adores him and wants to help with everything. He's quite the baby expert, in his own mind I have to limit my activity, which is hard, but WBH has lived up to his name in every way, not only taking care of us and our house, but also my parents' home and dog. I wake up to a clean home everyday, and he's not letting me push myself to far. Colin is well on his way back to his birth weight and is a good natured and mostly patient guy about while I figure out this whole mother-of-two thing, which is another post in itself.

I have to send out a big, big THANK YOU to WBH's parents, who watched Stinky, along with NoNuts and Brody while we were at the hospital. Talk about above and beyond- and on extremely short notice. We're grateful to our friends at church who have brought us amazing dinners- such a nice change from hospital food.

It feels like we're settling in to normal life- plus one now. I'm not quite where I can't remember life without him- but I love life with him here.

Oh, and for now, I'll just be calling him Colin here on the blog. All the nicknames I can think of at the moment are vampire-based, and that's not a nice thing to saddle a little guy with.

Summer Joy no. 29

Summer Joy no. 29

practicing holding

Summer Joy no. 27

Summer Joy no. 27

Early Arrivals.

Colin Glenn Telford

born 3:47am, August 24

20.5 inches, 9 lbs 3 oz

I'll keep the Summer Joy posts going, and be back with the story of the kiddo's early arrival for I Made It Monday. Now, to figure out a blog nickname for this one.

Summer Joy no. 23

Summer Joy no. 23

Coming home to "matching bruvver shirts" in the mail.

As a note, I'm not being reimbursed for this, but this etsy seller, MyPersonalizedTShirt gave me such great customer service, crazy fast shipping, and the shirts are great quality, I just wanted to share. Check her out, she's awesome.

Summer Joy no. 21

Summer Joy no. 21

being able to laugh at yourself when you've reached this point. (11 days and counting, friends.)

Summer Joy no. 5

Summer Joy no. 5

stinky sharing toys so "he has something to play with in there"

The Bigger The Figure

Just a check in from our little staycation. We don't have any full-length mirrors at our house, which is probably a good thing, because when I saw this in a bathroom the other day, I almost laughed out loud.


WBH tells me every day how much he likes my belly. Seeing this, I don't blame him. It's hilarious. For the rest of the day, I found myself humming and singing this song:

I've got a woman as big as a house yes sir

She's as big as a two family house with a porch and a fence

You won't believe what you see when you look at her

She's enormous collosal tremendous gigantic immense

Why try to deny it

She's just what I like

If she goes on a diet

I'll go on strike

The bigger the figure the better I like her

The better I like her the better I feed her

The better I feed her the bigger the figure

The bigger the figure the more I can love

Boy Howdy: in which I rant, just a little

another photo by my SIL, of WBH, Stinky, and Uncle Bubba

When I talked to a friend at church (who has four grown sons) after our ultrasound, she laughed and promised me "Someday, you will come home, and walk in the door, and be overwhelmed by the smell. It's the shoes."

I shopped for my guys today. Battling other moms and wives at the clearance rack, I came home with a pretty good haul. Returning home, a former derby teammate was lamenting on Facebook about the excess of pink in clothes for her future rollergirl. I couldn't help but smile as I looked in my shopping bag and saw stripes, plaids, and solids in some very masculine colors.

A few days ago I went back to the place where I used to work to visit some of our clientele. When I told one of the elderly women that was so sweet to me each morning that I worked that I was having another boy, her response was "Oh. Well, that's okay, too." I wanted to respond by saying "Are you kidding me?! It's GREAT!"

I'm probably a little defensive about this. I've gotten a few responses like that woman's lately, and they bother me. Make no mistake, I couldn't be more excited about having another boy. I do think about having a girl when we see Miss G, a friend from church, and her stinkin' adorable golden pigtails (seriously, she's so cute I could just die). The truth is, we would be thrilled with any child we're blessed with, we are thrilled about this one, and the Y chromosome that helped create him.

So, there will not be any pink or pigtails in our immediate future, Nevertheless, I am thrilled that soon, we get to bring home a brother, a nephew, a grandson, our boy.

Pregnancy Update

A few "hope the pregnancy is going well" comments have made me realize that I haven't really written about it much lately. It's... going. Tomorrow, I hit 24 weeks. I still have some problems with nausea, restless legs, and fatigue, which have been frustrating, but this trimester has been uneventful, and I'm grateful for that.

My belly has morphed over the last few weeks from "Wow, Rae's had a big lunch" to undoubtedly a baby bump. Many people have been surprised that I still have 16 weeks to go after seeing it. That's what happens when you have no waist to begin with- there's nowhere to go but out. Gummi Bear is a mover and a shaker, unless someone is trying to feel him move. Then, he likes to hold perfectly still. Stinky is definitely getting into the idea of being a big brother, and tells me that he loves the baby in my belly. I'm apprehensive about making the transition and how he'll adjust. There's a bit to be done to prepare for the arrival- clothes to sort through, a crib to find (Stinky's was re-called), but I'm procrastinating all of those a while longer in favor of stressing out about this week's vacation (halleluliah, here it comes, but so much to do!).

And that's about it. I hope that the third trimester will be as uneventful as this one.

Happy Monday!

We Made It Monday: Blue Edition

We learned last Tuesday that, with a profile nearly identical to Stinky's, and the same willingness to wiggle their tiny buttcheeks and private parts at the ultrasound technician, the baby due to join our family is most definitely named Colin, and not Anna. "Oh yeah," said the technician, "He's not shy about those at all!"

I was shocked at first because I'd been sure that we were having a girl. Then the word "brothers" came to my mind, and my eyes welled up. We're thrilled.

Colin, I'm sorry I've thought you were a girl for the last few months. Thank you and your Y chromosome for saving us some money on baby clothes. Your big brother can't wait to play with you, even if he is accidentally calling you Gollum at the moment. That's our fault for introducing the Lord of the Rings movies at the same time we told him who you were. We can't wait to meet you, kid. We're going to have a blast.

Making It Monday: Gummi Bear

Creative pursuits have been temporarily put on hold, as the creation of baby Gummi Bear (so named by a nurse with an ultrasound wand) has become priority. A week ago found us in the ER for some not-uncommon-but-still-really-scary-for-us complication. I spent 48 hours mostly on bedrest, and then was upgraded to light activity by my doctor two days later, who also reassured us regarding what was going on. I don't feel very good most of the time, I can't pick up Stinky, or many other things, and I'm frustrated by this. WBH is home for this week on mid-winter vacation, and I'm grateful for that.

In the ER, Stinky was a real trooper. He was doted on and flirted with by all the nurses (who might have just been happy he wasn't a drug addict or homeless person looking for a warm place, if we're being honest), and at the end of the night, he asked the nurse who discharged me out to dinner. He also got to see an ultrasound picture of the baby, who danced around as if to say "I'm fine, just making sure you were paying attention." Then, he/she held perfectly still and waved at us. I looked at the screen and asked Gummi Bear to kindly knock it the hell off with the scary stuff.

This isn't the first time Gummi Bear has given us a scare, but we feel things will be all right in the end. We figure this child must know who his/her older brother is and is determined to let us know that he/she will be no different than Stinky is when it comes to giving us a run for our money. I'm a little worried, envisioning our future, but that's a worry for later on, I guess. Right now, it's all about the incubating.