Early
I was feeling a little "funny" when Ryan left for Scouts last Wednesday evening around 6:15. I mentioned it to him, but he doesn't even remember. Then I started having strange lower back pain when I was putting Collin to bed around 7pm. It seemed to come and go, and I noticed it was happening every 20-25 minutes or so. When Ryan got home around 8pm, I got in the shower to see if the back pain would subside. At 9pm, we decided to try to get some rest in case we ended up being up all night. But by 9:15, I was in the bathroom sick with back pain every 10 minutes or so. I woke up Ryan at 10pm and told him I thought we should go to the hospital. As Ryan finished packing a bag for Collin and I topped my bag off with toiletries, I was having strong I-can't-talk-through-this contractions every 10-15 minutes, and ouch-this-hurts back pain every 2-5 minutes. A little before 11pm, I put on my shoes and Ryan and I sat at the kitchen table trying to decide if we should call the neighbor to come and sleep at our place with Collin. We re-read the paper from the doctor's office at least 5 times (recommending going to the hospital when the wow-this-hurts-I'm gonna-die contractions are 4-5 minutes apart) and finally decided at 11:15 that even though my contractions were too far apart that the baby was probably coming at some point in the night, and we might as well get our friend over and get my epidural. Laura came right over and shoo-ed us out the door.
The contractions continued with light lower back pain every 2-4 minutes, and strong abdomen contractions every 7-10 minutes. At the hospital, they hooked the monitors around my waist and started monitoring me and the baby at 11:58pm. I was dilated to a 5. This was the same point I was at when I was admitted with Collin, so we started calculating when I'd deliver and if we needed to call someone to snag Collin when he woke up. Boy were we wrong!
The story gets blurry for me around here. I know they called the doctor when we first arrived, but he knew he had plenty of time. I remember "wetting myself" (my water broke) and the nurse checking me and saying I was a 7. I know then she called the doctor again and told him to hurry. I also remember repeatedly asking when I was going to get my epidural. I know she told me at some point that I probably wasn't going to get one. I also remember saying, "Uh, aren't I supposed to tell you when I feel the urge to push?" And her reply was, "Wait, no! Don't push! I haven't delivered a baby in a long time!"
Somewhere in the midst of this, the anesthesiologist arrived, and they rolled me on my side. Unfortunately no matter how many times you tell a woman in natural labor "not to push," push she does. I had two contractions on my side (with my legs being squeezed together by the nurse, ladies!) with Brennan's head crowning each time. You can only imagine. I remember begging to roll onto my back and push him out. And that I did. 
Brennan was born at 12:48am -- 50 minutes after I was hooked up to the belly monitors, and 5 hours after a very generous use of the word "contractions" began. Yes, our little BMW entered the world fast! 
The doctor, who claims he was probably in the elevator when I delivered, arrived in time to delivered the placenta. Likewise, my epidural kicked in for the after-birth and stitch-up. Brennan's hand was up next to his face when he "slid out" thus the stitching. The doctor said it was a good thing he didn't get a shoulder stuck. That would have been fun for the nurse!
Brennan's eyes were swollen all three days in the hospital, but he started opening them more and more by Sunday. Apparently quick labors are rough on the baby too!
I know you are probably wondering why I still got an epidural. 1 - I was in no condition to make the decision. 2 - No one seemed to realize he was coming so fast. 3 - The nurse was inexperienced, and my doctor was MIA.
Honestly, hindsight is 20/20, and we all now know I would have been far more comfortable without it. And now I can say I know what a natural birth feels like, though I have no desire to repeat it!
Sleep
Brennan is a sleeper. He sleeps... all the time. The first 5 days I woke him every 1-1/2 hours during the daytime and every 3 hours during the night to nurse him. I had to use all sorts of strategies to try to wake him and then keep him awake. As of Tuesday's doctor's appointment (where he was almost back to birth-weight), I was cleared to no longer wake him to feed him, but he is waking on his own every 3 hours or so. He still falls asleep as soon as he starts to eat though. I change his diaper between sides and that wakes him up again. It is blissful to have such a content and sleepy baby. 
Jaundice
I was super panicked about jaundice (remember?), so I had the nurses scanning his forehead more often than usual. He tested in the low-intermediate range and had one heel prick before we were discharged. He had two more forehead scans Monday and Tuesday (thank goodness my mom was here to drive us all to the doctor's office), and he was officially cleared Tuesday. He still looks a little orange but nothing his little body can't handle. Whew.
Each time Ryan brought Collin to the hospital he'd take him to see the birds and fish. Apparently on the same floor as Mother & Baby there was an aviary and aquarium of some sort. I'll never know since I never visited it... One time they came we decided I would take Collin to see the birds and fish, and Ryan would stay in the room with Brennan. As Collin and I headed out of the wing holding hands, a nurse came running up behind us, pointing at me and telling me to come back. I guess I had to be in a wheelchair. As I told Collin we needed to turn around, he got all sad (do you blame him?). I tried tugging on his hand to get him back in the wing, but he wouldn't budge. Of course, I then bent over to pick him up and was immediately reprimanded by said nurse. I turned to the nurse and said, "I'm not going to be able to get him back inside. You'll have to pick him up." She took one step toward him, and Collin really lost it - screaming and tears and everything. So the nurse headed back to her station and called my room. Ryan put the baby in the baby bed and headed down the hall to get Collin, and I headed to the room. We were all of three doors apart, and another nurse said, "Where's your baby!?" I said, "He's in the room." In astonishment, she replied, "You can't leave him in the room alone!!!" Yeah, it was a comedy of errors. I felt like begging to just go home...
In general, Collin has been completely disinterested in Brennan, hardly even acknowledging him and openly refusing to kiss or hug him. Then today... My mom and Ryan overheard him say as he walked by the bouncy chair, "Hi Brennan." And when asked, he gave Brennan a kiss on the cheek. We're making progress. Unfortunately, he also started pushing the bouncy chair just before bed tonight and almost spilled him out onto the floor. I knew it was better if he just ignored him...
Conclusion
Alright. I'm tired. My blog will surely be neglected in the coming weeks or even months. Sorry guys - sleep takes priority. Enjoy winter, and we'll talk in the spring. 
It was awful, to say the least. I think this picture of Collin says it all. He spent the better part of a week in his pajamas. When both pairs were in the washer, he was in his swishy running pants. We spent a lot of time just laying around with bowls nearby. We were one tired, sick bunch. Luckily, it looks like we managed to keep the germs to our little family, and hopefully no one else will find whatever horrible thing Collin brought home.
Little did we know it'd be our "last meal."
Sadly, Collin was only awake 5 hours all of Christmas Day (Grandma woke him at 11am, napped him at 1:30, and put him to bed at 6pm), and I was far from interested in snapping photos of him playing. Hence, this blog has a vast shortage of photos. Sorry. He really did like his gifts, and he's still enjoying his "new toys" here at home.
Until recently, they've had the missionaries living in their basement, so this area has never really been used. Now we can have hours of fun down there! 
Don't let my mom fool you; she creamed them all in a game the first night we were there. It was sweet. 
The table also came with a table tennis cover, so we can play ping-pong too. Ryan was in heaven.
I thought this would be a good place to insert a picture of the collage Ryan made for his room. It's opposite the road wall we painted. Cool huh?
I guess that should give you some hints about his Christmas and birthday gifts...
He kept saying, "Collin, birthday, cupcake" all day. I rented two movies from the library - Thomas the Train and Elmo birthday movies. He quickly learned about blowing out candles. But I guess I forgot to tell him to wait to blow until after the song is finished.
I think it may quite possibly take all day to get everything open on Christmas though. But he'll be the only child there, so I guess we'll have nothing better to do. He was so excited to play with everything... except for the dinosaurs that were in this box - he climbed into my lap cuddling, and said, "All done dinosaurs." Yep, still a bit of a wuss. (Though today it was the first toy he wanted to show to his friends who came over to play, so I guess he's over the initial shock.)
Here he is not particularly well-clad during our snow-in in Seattle. 
Collin loves to color yuki.
There were a lot of kids around this trip. You can imagine the busy-ness and noise. Collin did much better than I thought he would, but as it inched towards naptime or bedtime each day, he would whine for "Nana's car" (interpretation: "Get me out of here!"). Since I was usually in need of a little break from the chaos too, we'd usually head downstairs to the tv room and sneak in a 30-minute Elmo movie. It seemed to do the trick to restart Collin, and he was usually rearing to head back up to the toys afterwards. 
What would be a trip to Nana & Papa's without some time on the Four-Wheelers? It was cold and either rainy or snowing the whole time we were there, so the only adult brave enough to take the kiddos out was Papa. I also managed to pull a muscle in my belly the first day we were on the road (lugging luggage?), so I wasn't quite up to all the jostling they offer (I did survive the week by buying an expensive belly band). Collin was a little terrified at first, but I think he loved it still the same.
Learning to ride his horse, with a cute little chicken in the background
For the cupcakes, of course.