About 3 1/2 years ago John and I willingly participated in a science experiment. The nature of this particular type of "science experiment" is responsible for populating the world. Oh yes, we decided to turn our trio into a quartet. We have since realised that it truly was a science experiment. Let me explain, we have a daughter who is patient and good natured, kind, compassionate, and very sweet. Then we had HIM..... I am certain that you can guess by now that he is not like his sister. John and I have sworn that every bit of our easy going and good natured side went into our daughter and every bit of our wild, adventurous, fearless, crazy, bad to the bone side went into our son. The cells literally polarised in our children, thus becoming the greatest science experiment of our lives.
I have terrible pregnancies and I HATE being pregnant. I am one of those people that has to take a fertility medication called clomid to get pregnant. When conception finally occurs it is like my body is trying to get rid of the foreign object in any way that it can. I get really bad morning sickness, acne, I get hugely fat, blood clots, and then I top it off with a healthy dose of pre-eclampsia, an abruption and an emergency c-section birth. That's right, I've got SKILLZ. However, as much as I hate being pregnant I LOVE being a mom and it is totally worth every bit of discomfort, sickness, and pain.
The night before I had my son I was teaching dance and I kept having some sort of strange contraction type pain in my stomach. I drove to the hospital on my way home from work and asked them to check me. Since the premature birth of my first born (2 1/2 lbs) I had been being monitored at maternal fetal medicine regularly to watch after this pregnancy. They monitored me and said that I was fine, so I went home. The next morning I woke up and still felt awful. I decided to take a shower, drop Ads off at my moms, drive to the hospital, and see if maternal fetal medicine would see me right away since my appointment was for the next day anyway. I had to argue my way into a check up, but they ended up hooking me up to the monitors to have a look at what was happening.
I learnt after my first born that I needed to be really assertive with doctors and nurses. I wasn't assertive the first time around and it nearly cost me the life of my baby as well as my own. This time I was a new woman, I was finger waving, head bobbing, demanding I be seen and looked after right away....... something of a pregnant DIVA. Thankfully I learnt to assert myself because I hadn't been monitored 15 minutes before they wheeled me off to maternity inserted and I.V. and said "you are having this baby today."
I started to bawl. Crying is my first emotion to creep up in any given situation.....joy- crying, fear-crying, sadness-crying, you get the picture. Since I had driven myself to the hospital I had left my cell phone in the car and didn't know John's work number and didn't have my hospital bag. I called my mom who called all of our family and thus the great race of trying to contact John began. The Doctor came in and told me that my husband had 30 minutes to get there or he would NOT see the birth of this child. To this day I have no idea how fast John drove, but the speed barrier may have been broken.
They wheeled me back to the operating room husband less and more than a little freaked out. As soon as we arrived in the operating room I was met with the sound of Native American flute music playing away. Which a year later totally ruined what was supposed to be a relaxing massage. I could never enjoy anything with Native American flute music in the background again. When I tell you this I do it without exaggeration, John walked into the operating room just as they began to cut me open. Since I was 6 weeks early I was nervous about the development of the babe, but when the babe was delivered I heard a strong cry which was a good sign and very much different from the delivery of my first. The baby was quickly passed through a window and all assessments of his health were performed. It felt like I was the last person in my family to see my new baby, any aunties, cousins, and grandparents that had rushed to the hospital got to peek in on this tiny new miracle.........and then me. William John Talbot came to this world weighing 4lbs. 1oz. which is about 2 kilo grams.
When they say that dynamite comes in small packages......they weren't kidding. We were very relieved that this boy came healthy enough for us to be able to let our family and friends see him. Our first born was so small and ill that we couldn't share her with our family until she was 6 weeks old. People are excited for you, but they always want to see the baby and it is difficult explaining to them why they cannot. But with Will we didn't have to worry about that. In fact, one day I came into the NICU to do his cares and the nurse said "Oh, it's Wild Bill's mom." Wild Bill? Well, this little guy kept ripping his I.V.'s out of his hands and feet (he still has scars) and so they stuck the I.V. on the top of his head! They told me that he was very strong willed and wasn't afraid to let everyone in the NICU know it.
One day I laid Will down to change his bottom on his sister's bed and I saw her baby dolls laying around. Of course I couldn't resist this moment. Will was about 5lbs at this time, so I am kicking myself a bit that I didn't take it as soon as we brought him home at 4lbs 4oz., he truly was the size of the dolls. I was scared to death caring for a baby that small at home, but he was strong, and he was hungry, so he thrived. I used this picture for his birth announcement and captioned it "One of these things is not like the others..." I am sure he will kill me when he is older, but I am one of those moms who will take every opportunity I can get to get a good laugh.
I swear to you that William was the most beautiful newborn baby I had ever seen. Sister was a bit strange looking because she was so small, but he was gorgeous. Sister grew more beautiful as she got older while brother went through a more awkward stage from newborn to baby. People who saw him said he looked like a Kewpie doll, big eyed with a curl of hair on top of his head, I just thought he was perfection.
This is one of my favourite pictures of the kids. One toothed Will and his lovely sister at Easter at our home in Bountiful, UT.
Will's first Birthday. The whole family with grandparents, aunties, and cousins came over for pizza and cake. Will loved digging into his 1st Birthday "carrot cake."
In Park City, UT at the ski resort to do the Alpine slide and zip line.
In Mueller Park Canyon right near where we lived.
Will's second Birthday and our first Birthday celebrated living in London. We were actually in Holland on his Birthday, but we had our neighbours Hugh and Mary over for cake and ice cream to celebrate his day.
In Brugge, Belgium waiting for the canal boat ride.
The Highway's FOTH family picnic wielding his sword.
Camber Sands beach, UK
Williams 1st school picture which was taken September this year.
And our William just before he turned 3.
As I looked back through the pictures I felt sad seeing how much he has changed, and yet he keeps us in stitches with his wildly boyish ways. There are so many things I love about this boy; he is addicted to chocolate and can sniff out a sweetie anywhere, he never walked he just ran and still only runs, nearly every day at school I have to sign a form saying he has been injured and the teachers say he never cries "tough" and "fearless", he loves cars and robots, he loves to dance, he loves football, he loves going to church and asks everyday if we are going to church, he loves to bother his sister and yet is fiercely loyal and protective of her, he has a rock solid chiseled little body, he can ride a scooter like a whiz, he is smart, he can charm the socks off of you or throw an epic tantrum, he is stubborn and will NOT back down, he loves to cuddle in the evenings, he loves reading books, will not ride in a stroller and sometimes will not walk, loves to climb around on the seats of the train and hang from the poles, tells very animated stories, calls himself Liam, has a huge wide "hippo" smile, totally fearless, loves watching cartoons, very independent, says the cutest prayers, has a blanket we named "Linus" for obvious reasons that has to come with him for naps and to bed, and lastly he pretty much puts the life in our family party.
William can either make you laugh hysterically or cry your eyes out of frustration, but I really would not change one hair of his head. This science experiment has become a blessing that we could never live without. I feel so blessed that I have been entrusted with this precious boy to teach and lead and help become the greatest man he could possibly become. William John Talbot, I love you. I tell him he is my greatest JOY and along with his sister and his dad he is. I consider myself to be very blessed. Happy Birthday little Liam man. xx
