How it went down: Colton's birth story

After our false alarm, I thought for sure I'd be in denial when real labor hit. I mean, who would dare do the preggers walk of shame twice in one pregnancy?

However, when I woke up at 1am on Saturday morning (8 hours after being sent home from the hospital), I knew I was for sure having this baby. My contractions were 3 minutes apart, and after a quick shower, I decided to wake up Ben and head back to the hospital. Both Mom & Lill were at our house so they both met up there once Lovee arrived to stay with the big boys.


I was 5 cm upon arrival and they confirmed my frequent (and painful) contractions as the real deal. I got my epidural within the hour and before I knew it, I was completely numb from the waist down. As in I-really-can't-feel-my-legs-at-all numb. Which.was.awesome.



My contractions went from OMG to "labor? what labor? this is a cinch!" in about 30 minutes flat. About 7am, I felt pressure and they confirmed I was 10 cm and ready to have the baby. The on-call doctor, however, was tied up with a woman across the hall who was having natural childbirth and couldn't exactly leave her hanging. So we chilled for an hour until he came to deliver Colton. No big deal, thanks to modern medicine. Once the doctor arrived, Mom and Lill took up their stations at the head of my bed and doula Ben got as close as they'd let him :) 3 pushes later, little Colton arrived.


While this wasn't my quickest delivery, it certainly was the easiest...I mean, I honestly had NO pain once I got the epi. I'm a fan, let me tell ya.


Sweet Colton weighed 7lb 10 oz and was 20" long. He is my biggest baby yet. He's got the tiniest ears and cutest little nose and hiney.

It was truly amazing that both Bebe & Oma were there for the delivery. Between previous commitments, travel time and just the inability to know when Colton would arrive, we weren't sure just how it would play out. It was such an awesome blessing that the timing was just so, that both proud grandmas were there for his big debut.


After being moved to our Mom & Baby room and after my legs finally thawed out, Dad & Linda brought the big brothers up to meet Baby Colton.

Jackson was just completely enamored by his new brother, and wanted to hold him and kiss all over him immediately.  Weston was indifferent, he didn't pay much attention to the baby, and as far as he was concerned, it could have been a puppy, or an inanimate object.
And we thought getting a picture of our family of 4 was hard...try getting 5 people to look in the same direction!!

Poppy & Gigi got to meet their newest grandson.

We spent Saturday night in the hospital and convinced them to discharge us on Sunday.  We were anxious to get home and comfortable in our own house & our own bed.  Not to mention we didn't want to overextend Lill's gracious offer to keep the boys while we were in the hospital!!  

 We arrived home to two very excited boys who couldn't wait to see their newest playmate.  I swear, poor Colton probably felt like a petting zoo.

And we can't possibly bring home a new baby without the traditional mailbox pic :)

We are so thankful for this sweet baby and I am so excited about having three little boys!

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ENT

Jackson's had a snoring problem for as long as we can remember.  He is so loud, and its clearly a blockage of some sort - most likely his tonsils. 

At nearly every well-child visit and even the dentist, the doctor always makes comments on how enlarged his tonsils are, and they are shocked that he isn't sick all the time.  I showed J this picture of his tonsils and his first comment was "Mommy, what are those big red balls in the back of my throat?"

Several weeks ago, Jackson went through a 2 week period of constant coughing, lack of appetite, excessive drooling at night, super loud snoring, and on and on.  We finally took him to the pedi who confirmed a sinus infection, but also gave us an ENT referral and suggested that having his tonsils removed would eliminate many of these issues we have been seeing.

The ENT confirmed all of this and they are recommending we have J's tonsils & adenoids removed sometime this summer.  They feel this will help alleviate many of the issues we have been having with eating, sleeping, speaking clearly, drooling at night, etc.  

The timing isn't the best, with a new baby and all, but hopefully by August we will be ready to tackle this minor surgery and get it behind us for good.

Welcome Baby Colton!

Colton William Talbert was born at 8:08am on Saturday, April 27. He was 7lbs 10 oz and 20" long. Baby Colton has a head full of dark hair and is just perfect!







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Walk of Shame

So after having 2 babies, you'd think you would have a pretty good idea of when you were in true labor. Not so much in my case. We totally did the pregnancy walk of shame, going both in...AND OUT of L&D in the same day.

I had been having contractions all night and this morning (though not consistent or painful, just aching) so the triage nurse finally convinced me to go to the hospital since my contractions come quickly and my babies come even quicker. However, upon arrival, I was only 4cm and after walking the halls for an hour (over a mile in distance) I had not progressed at all. So home I came.

We are pretty much sitting and waiting now. Mom is in town and Lill is on her way. We are hoping it works out for both of them to be there for the births but its kind of a juggling game on who can help out with the boys when so its super hard to plan without knowing exactly when his little guy will be making his arrival.

Once Lill gets here tonight, we are amping up our labor-inducing activities. I plan to walk my 'hood pushing the double stroller for as long as I can tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!!




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My big 32nd

The older you get, the less important birthdays seem.  This year was no exception, considering I am 9 months pregnant, tired, and pretty much over it.

Ben did try to make it as special as possible for me and we had great weekend together as a family.

On Friday night, we went to dinner with our good friends the Crawfords.  Lovee watched all 3 kids and we had some amazing sushi in downtown Greer. Amazing.

Saturday morning, per my requests, we got up early and hit up some neighborhood yardsales.  While we didn't walk away with the deal of the century, we did get a great little table that is just perfect for housing our new 4-in-1 wireless printer.

Saturday after naps, I opened my presents from the boys, and we did cake - snickers ice cream cake, to be more specific!  I got a menagerie of favorites, including glacier ice gatorade (for labor), a 600-pack of zip ties...seriously, I use zip ties to the point of obsession, and a case for my shades.  My favorite gift by far was Ben's card, telling me I could pick out a personalized "mom" necklace.  I've been eyeing them for years and finally found the one I love and want...and he generously let me order it once I agreed it could be a birthday gift, Mother's Day Gift & Push Present rolled into 1.

My necklace will have 3 charms on it, each featuring one of my sons' names.  I am in love with how it uses sterling silver and 14K gold -- perfect to wear with any of my earrings, regardless of metal.

 Saturday night, we laid low while Ben finished work on the never-ending deck box project.  Sunday I had to serve most the day and I met my BFF Alisha for lunch at Chicora.  More on her later :)

I really thought I had overdone it on Sunday and had mom on call to zip down here if labor started.  But so far, so good!!  No baby yet.  But tomorrow night is a full moon so that makes babies come apparently.  Plus, my house is getting cleaned tomorrow so we have to at least get that behind us.

To all the single ladies

I ran across this somewhere on an evangelical (and quite liberal) website and thought it was funny enough to share.

My newest victim

I apparently have the horrible habit of jacking up my kids hair when I try to trim it myself.  Weston's first haircut has been no exception.  I had big plans to take him to Snip Its and have them give him his inaugural cut but we are running out of time.  {Poor middle child is already getting the shaft}
You'd think I'd learn!

Before:                                                                      

After:

I guess sporting the Lloyd Christmas bangs is a rite-of-passage in the Talbert household.