1 month...

i will take one of these on this couch every month as long as he will let me...what can i say? he's my last baby




eyes? still blue. babylove? still gorgeous.


and lest he feel left out, who could forget my beautiful big boy?


Colin is adjusting well. He is a marvelous helper and loves showing off "his baby"

Tiny Z

Ezekiel Ryan Taylor
born February 7th, 2011 at 7 in the morning
8 lbs. 9 oz.

champ sleeper
netted me another emergency C-section
growing like a weed
beloved by all

hi...I had a whole baby and everything

squirt sleeping in the Moby wrap, via webcam


we named him Ezekiel Ryan Taylor. He was 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and was the source of my second emergency c=section...more soon, including pictures...still exhausted 2 and a half weeks later...

9 months

Make an avatar

messages

I have not progressed very much, and my whole little family is battling seasonal allergy aches and pains (especially my tough little guy, he has a terrible cough), we are not quite ready for a kiddo to join us but I am to achey and exhausted to nest properly. I was feeling overwhelmed and crazy yesterday. Just ready to go into my doc and say: "get it over with, let's re-schedule the c-section for tomorrow".
I was driving and flipping around the radio and happened upon this song...and just like that I felt energized, I felt comforted, I was reminded that:
This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust You know exactly what You're doin'
It might not be what I would choose, but this is the stuff You use.

Monday, January 24th. 7:00 PM

Even I am sick of myself these days. I told my husband that I am not thrilled with how I react to being incessantly uncomfortable, nor proud. He however lavishes me with compliments; "you're so lovely" this, "you're doing such an amazing job" that. He's a trooper, and I adore him. I can't imagine having babies with anyone else.


Colin has embraced the concept of "baby" fully. Yesterday as we sat on the couch, he leaned over and said "what is my baby doing?" I told him to ask the baby through the microphone (my belly button) and he leaned over and said "what you doing in there baby brudder?" It was so adorable that my head exploded.


Colin has also started karate. This was our bid to burn some energy and to do something special for just him. He seems to like it and I like the fact that it's on our cute little Main Street about 5 minutes from our house. The school is run by an awesome family and they are so patient with the little guys. I have yet to attend a full class with him but tomorrow we give it a go. Thank goodness for Nana!


Babylove is still growing. Firmly entrenched. Head down, 1 cm dilated, soft and thin. All that. I am a slow laborer and so the last few weeks of my pregnancies are really rough. This time around I have my eyes focused on the prize, a no pitocin induced, no c-section delivery. I have been having contractions off and on regularly for the last few weeks, just like last time. And terrible terrible insomnia, just like last time. Non-stop heartburn, just like last time. New this time? Incredibly debilitating back pain (attempted to control with Tylenol to no avail), much MUCH stronger contractions off and on throughout the day (last time it was more like Braxton Hicks with only some of the contractions being "real"), I have begun losing my mucus plug little bit by little bit (yay! finally something like a normal pregnancy! I didn't experience any of it last time!) and a three year old with boundless energy. On Wednesday we are going in so my OB can strip my membranes, just to see if we can get things moving along. I am glad for that, her non-medicated approach. I am also trying some "old fashioned" ways of getting things moving so we'll see what works!

With any luck this time next week I will be holding a tiny bundle. But if not, another picture will be forthcoming. I will attempt not to flip off the camera.

Song and Dance

inspired by the lovely news that I am 1 cm dilated and that my OB thinks I may in fact deliver a little early (in the next week!) I have been hard at work compiling my labor and delivery playlists

One of the myriad odd things I did to earn money in college (build sets for an opera, work the morning shift at a bakery, wrote grants for small non-profits) was sound design and sound engineering for local theatres. Now this is not at all what it sounds like, I was really a glorified DJ most times but it was usually good for a couple hundred bucks (less than Stage Managing, something else I did, but less time commitment). I pulled together music (generally royalty free blahblah) and put it order, showed up for dress rehearsal week and was a button monkey in the booth for a couple weeks or however long the run lasted.
(As an aside, my husband is an ACTUAL sound engineer (who does it for a living), as is our friend Phil (who mixes for headliner bands that you have heard of), and they do a whole lot more than press play on a CD player and push a slider up to make it louder or quieter in a 100 seat theatre. They have to actually mix the instruments and performers and what have you and get paid WAY more money than I ever made...and thank God because they are damned good at what they do)
Anyway, one of the fun things I have done to prepare for Babylove's arrival is to make myself some mix CD's to listen to while laboring. Some mixes have songs I can sing along to (does anyone else sing when they are in pain? No? Just me?), some have only instrumental songs. I asked Facebook for good suggestions and was delighted with all the good songs people came up with.
I added in some songs that make me smile, among them Sam and Dave's Hold On, I'm Comin' and Elizabeth Mitchell's Little Wing. And of course, since Babylove's first concert (in utero still counts!) was Jack Johnson, Better Together.
So now I'm curious: what are your top 5 labor and delivery songs? Songs that you could blast to make you feel strong and joyful and ready to have that baby!