Today you will meet my final family member. I should just stop at W since l have no idea how to tie X,Y and Z into my “Family” theme.
William John Hine yes repeating the “John” name for my Dad, but also William is a family name. Unbeknownst to me l had a full blooded brother who was given up for adoption. It was a closed adoption because the Mother chose who his parents would be. She named him “Wayne” another W! His new parents named him William! I didn’t know anything about him till the day of my 25th birthday my Dad had died only 7 months earlier and l had told the Mother “it took two of you to create me and my Dad is gone l won’t celebrate my birthday!” so we just went to my sisters for dinner and the phone call came. This is a whole other story and not really mine to share BUT l still fully believe my Dad from Spirit sent my Brother to me on my birthday to help me get over his loss! And my brother William looks like my Dad!
So the “William” name was in my family but also The Bloke had a Grandfather called “John William” so we just reversed it to “William John”
Disclaimer- William was not planned although in hindsight l should have expected it and was not as shocked as l could have been because in 1992 a Clairvoyant told me l would have four children. When l had number three and he was a boy my first husband got “the snip” and we laughed about how wrong SHE was! The last laugh was on me when recovering from gallstones and gallbladder removal in 2001- l fell pregnant with Star Son!
I had gestational diabetes with Amber and then again with William, Amber was 9 pound and Will was taken two weeks early on January 23rd 2002 weighing in at a hefty 9 pound 4 ounces! Thank goodness those Dr’s decided he was cooked enough they said he would have easily have been 10 pound!
So when William ( at birth we called him Billy it seemed like William was such a big name!) was born everyone thought he had bruising on his face from the forceps he was rather stuck l even heard the Dr mumble “He needs to come out we can fix a broken shoulder!” He had shoulder dystocia ( Shoulder dystocia is a birth injury that happens when one or both of a baby’s shoulders get stuck inside the mother’s pelvis during labor. In most cases of shoulder dystocia, babies are born safely. But it can cause problems for both mom and baby.) he was also a bit shocked and who could blame him being pulled out like that so he went right to special care!
He was checked over and deemed all good and so allowed to come in with me to stay and feed, the hospital staff assuring me “the bruising will fade” At his six week check up the bruising had not faded and perhaps even darkened. So a specialist appointment was set up and off we went. Turns out it was a birth mark! It was in fact one called “Cafe Au Lait” ( Café au lait spots are a type of birthmark characterized by flat patches on the skin. They are light brown in color but can darken with sun exposure. These marks are distinct because they often have irregular edges and vary in color.) No understanding at that time why or how or what treatment he could have, more appointments and more testing. The removal of said birth mark because it included his eye was deemed too risky for someone so young and we could have followed up later in life but we decided when he was old enough to understand he could make his own decision and we would support him in that. And so we had this beautiful healthy boy with a marked face!
The Bloke used to wear a belt buckle with the Phantom Good sign on it and it used to always press into my stomach as he hugged me and l had joked “Be careful the baby will be born with a good sign seared into his face!” I regret those words all the time!
As “Billy” grew his fun personality started to shine and he would ask “Why didn’t any of you have this mark?” Pointing to his face. I quickly came up with a story.. “When the angels were bringing you to us, you were so heavy her wing accidentally brushed your face and left that mark” we told him it made him special and showed him the little mark on the back of Amber’s leg saying “Look how much more special you are Amber’s is so small!” So he was content with that. One day we were in the shops and a mother and a little boy about Billy’s age were next to us and the little boy said “Why is that boys face all dirty?” His Mother looked over and turned bright red and quickly shushed her son and then my “Star Son” piped up and said “It’s my birth mark the angels wing touched me when she brought me to Mum and Dad and left this mark!” The other little boys eyes grew wide and he said “Oh wow! An angel touched him Mum” the other Mum looked at me embarrassed and smiled. But right then l knew he’d be fine!!
William was always such a happy boy and when he was three. I pulled his big brother Jarrah out of school to “home school” him, he needed more one on one time than the school could offer and so l did it myself but what to do with Billy? I gave him exactly the same supplies Jarrah had and l sat him beside Jarrah at the table and the three of us began homeschooling. Both of them thrived! The girls would come home at school and ask Jarrah and Billy “what did you do today?” And they would relate how we had studied the phases of the moon and spell the planet names or something similar in the end the girls wanted to stay at “Mums school” too! By the time Billy went to Kinder as a four year old, he could read, write his name and cut and paste like a pro!
At Kindergarten his teacher was a first year teacher and young and she loved her “Will–eee-am” (She always seemed to stretch his name out!) l asked him as l enrolled him “What do you want the other children to call you Billy or what?” He replied “l’m William John Hine” and so for Kinder he was William! Crystal his teacher was proactive about his birth mark and so when the children started asking questions she invited me to join in the discussion which William lead, about his birth mark and to get the awkwardness out of the way, a few other parents were also present and William stood up in front of the class and told the children about his birth mark, no it didn’t hurt, nope you can’t rub it off, yes you can touch it! They all rushed forward to touch his little face. As we left that afternoon and other children sang out their Goodbyes l heard one little boy telling his Mum all about William’s birth mark and how the angels wing touched him! Will never had a day of bullying due to Crystal’s “getting it out in the open” and lm thankful to her for that!
At Primary school registration l asked him again “What would you like to be called?” He replied “Just put down Will” and from then on he’s been Will! Because he went to school with most of his kinder friends there was never any teasing about his birth mark. It wasn’t until he decided he wanted to play football that it became an issue!
I had thought l had escaped that dreaded “Sports Mum” title. Amber had played a season of basket ball but was too injury prone to continue and none of the others were into sports either playing or watching and then came Will.. he seemed to be left handed and excel at all things sporty and so he started off at “Aus kick” an hour on Saturday mornings, The Bloke joined in as a coach and that was their time together, occasionally Tanny (The Blokes Mum read about her at letter F!) and l would go and watch them train but it’s winter and cold.
Then he decided he wanted to play for “real” and because he loved it so much and was good at it, l became the thing l never wanted to be “Sports Mum” and l’d walk him down to training and I’d walk laps of the oval while he trained and then the Bloke would pick us up on his way home from work. Then on Sundays there would be games against other teams. I hate the cold, I’m a “Hibernate all winter type of gal” until Footy cane along, suddenly l was the Mum on the sidelines cheering. He told me off after one game because l was “cheering too loudly” I embarrassed him and so after that l’d clap and silently cheer. And l never told the umpire how to umpire either because he hated that in the other sideline mothers, some were very aggressive and loud! And he would say “Mum lm so glad you don’t do that!” One Mother, one time commented that l never got involved in Wills game and so l told her “Will requested me not to make a fool of myself by yelling and screaming” she was quite taken a back, l never did make friends of the other parents at football after that! Because Will was the smallest on his team his Under 9’s coach had nick named him “Big Will” and it stuck right through his football career which lasted until he was 17 years old. He broke himself. He did his ACL, his MCL and his meniscus in his knee, total knee reconstruction but more on that later…
On the football field was the only time he copped some flack about his birth mark, he even spoke to us about having it removed and we explained to him what the Drs had said but that was all those years ago and by now laser technology had improved and we told him “Would you like to go and see someone about that? We’ll support you in whatever decision you make!” In the meantime the Bloke had been playing around with photo shop and taken away Will’s birthmark and l really hated it! But we showed Will who quickly said “It doesn’t even look like me!” One year in school photos the photographer had flipped the image and it took me ages to figure out where Will was in the photo and what was wrong with this photo? His birthmark was on the wrong side! I hated those photos too! One particularly rough football match a few kids in the opposition team had started mouthing off in regards to his birthmark and he told me so l told him “it’s just because they’re jealous you are a better player” they were trying to throw him off his game. BUT his big sister Jasmin was having none of that! And when the game was over boy did she let loose! We had to restrain her so that she didn’t go to the other team and cause trouble. She emailed the club and let loose with a barrage of complaints. But also some of that opposition team members had reported those couple of boys who had been saying stuff and they were made to apologise and the coaches came to apologise but that was not enough for Jasmin. Look out when Big Sisters get involved!!
In April of 2019 first game of the season, he had been on the field for 20 minutes and he got tackled and down he went, l sat there silently urging him “Come on Wills get up mate!” But he didn’t get up and they carried him off the field. As his Mum l wasn’t allowed into the coaches box but Dad as team manager was so he came back to report “Oh he’s strained his knee he’ll be ok” at half time when the rest of the team went into the club rooms Wills was left sitting in the coaches box with an ice pack so l could go sit with him and l knew it wasn’t “just strained” but who want to listen to Mum intuition?!
Really loooong story short he had broken his ACL, MCL and Meniscus the trifecta of knees! He ended up going in for surgery on May 1st as a seventeen year old l could go with him and l stayed by his side as much as possible. He was released from hospital two days later and seemed to be mending.
But on Mother’s Day it went dreadfully wrong, he spiked a temp and couldn’t keep anything down by Tuesday nothing was helping and he passed out and l was frantic we got him into our Dr and she thought it was the Flu so gave him some anti nausea meds and sent him home, next day he saw his own Dr who took one look at his knee and said “Get him straight back to the hospital” within an hour he was in ER and so dehydrated they couldn’t get a vein to get a drip in. My Poor Star Son!
When you’re a mother you have to put on a brave face when your child is ill or hurt. I remember when Billy was about two years old (he was still Billy then) and l had taken him to the supermarket and he had been behaving so well l treated him to a little mesh bag of Easter eggs. On the way home l notice he had started drooling and his eyes had gone all red and watery and he was making a little coughing noise and it suddenly hit me “Oh my gosh is he allergic to something?!” So l quickly called the Bloke who is allergic to nuts but not peanuts or almonds. And l explained what was going on asking him “Is he having an allergic reaction?!” Seems like he was soo almost ran home with him in my arms asking Rob “What shall l do?” We got him through that and when l read the label l saw “Praline” when l googled praline it said hazelnut “l almost killed my child” l wept and moaned but only after he was fully recovered! He never knew the heart stopping fear all he knew was “Mummy carried me home and gave me an icy pole!”
So when he is seventeen and in hospital surrounded by Drs and nurses all trying to do different things to him, lm wringing my hands outwardly but inwardly screaming “this is my baby fix him!” Ok so he’s six foot tall and solid but he’s STILL my Baby! Within an hour he was back in surgery having his knee drained of infected fluid and that night we both again spent the night in the hospital. At three AM the next morning the nice sister came in an offered to make me a hot drink or food because my mind is churning about how sick my baby is. You can read that post Here there are a few posts after that but it was a nightmare!
Now my “Baby” is over six foot tall, he’s stacked on muscle and is a builders apprentice. He’s had a fourth knee surgery because the original graft failed probably due to the infection present so during Covid lockdown October 2020 he had the fourth surgery but all went smoothly and only a few weeks ago he got the all clear to be a teenager.. except Mum said “No football!!”although technically now an adult at 19, he can do what he wants to do- so if he chooses to go back and play football l have refused to attend l cannot go through that again! He drives and has a life but he’s always and forever going to be “My Baby” simply because of his birth order!
Kim L Hine 
That was quite a story. And your Will does look handsome.
Thank you! He’a my sweetheart