A Taurus plus a Taurus equals one stubborn baby

Saturday, September 29th. We were at the hospital at 8 am with much anticipation. We knew what the outcome would be but how would we get there and how long would it take? I decided to wear flip flops one last time! Don't deny a pregnant woman what she craves most.

They started me on pitocin around 9 am. Because I was being induced, I had to be hooked up to the monitor. No walking around to reduce the labor pains....not that I could walk very well anyway. I started feeling the contractions around 10 am. We watched Mythbusters for a while. My parents got there around 10:30 am. We visited for a while. I told my mom the name. She was surprised and happy. My Aunt Myrna and Uncle Joe stopped by and brought beautiful flowers and a baby gift from my cousin Randa.....who's pregnant due November 7th.

The contractions got stronger and more painful around 12:30 pm. I didn't think it was too bad. Dr. Russell broke my water about 2 pm. Thank goodness THAT didn't happen in public!!! I changed my mind about the contractions around 3:30 pm and was still not fully dialated! My mom went to the nurses station and asked for an epidural for me. There were several other women in labor and needing epidurals so I had to wait quite a while. Finally around 5 pm, they came in to give me an epidural. I had heard horror stories about the administering of an epidural. Not bad at all. What freaked me out was that the baby's heartbeat dropped immediately and the nurses were frantically moving me about to get it stable! After about 10 minutes, everything was back to normal. The pain meds kicked in just in time for the Rockies/Diamondbacks game.

We watched the whole game. The Rockies won again! Starting Sept 16th (the game we went to) they have won 21 out of 22 games! They have a great chance of making the playoffs. They had to win 2 of 3 against Arizona to make it to a "playoff" game against San Diego to make the wild card.

Back to labor....I asked Nathan to have my mom come in. He went out and came back and said she was outside walking. OK. A little later, I asked for my mom again. He went out and came back and said she was napping. OK. About 9 pm, I asked for my mom again. He went out and his mom came in. Nice but what part of MY MOM don't you understand?!?! About 10:30 pm my mom FINALLY came in. She had had an anxiety attack and was in the emergency room at the other end of the hospital! Crazy! Everything was ok but they kept her there for quite a while.

At about 11 pm, my doctor decided it was GO time! My contractions were getting stronger but I couldn't tell because I had just taken another pump of epidural. The nurse and Nathan were holding my hands and legs. Dr Russell was telling me to push right here....where the hell is here?!? I couldn't feel anything. He didn't want to come out. They used a vacuum suction to get his head out. Once his head was out, I suddenly felt where here was! The nurses got him wiped down and Nathan cut the umbilical cord. Nathan placed him in my arms and I just cried.....

REMINGTON LAWRENCE TOLAND
SEPTEMBER 29, 2007 11:37 PM
7LBS 15OZ 21 1/2 INCHES
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!!!

Dr Russell was right about 8 lbs. I tore a little bit but it's normal. 14 hours of labor, not horrible but considering the three months prior, I will take hours of labor over a broken ankle any day!

LAST appointment!?!? I thought I had two weeks left?

Today was our last appointment! I say last because it will be! After checking the heartbeat (160bpm) she checked for dialation. I was 4 cm. Dr. Russell wanted to discuss "an exit strategy!" Her words, not mine. She said, "On Saturday morning you're going to call the hospital at 7am. You will show up at the hospital at 8am. You will get checked in and we will get started on induction." My reaction was, "By Saturday, you mean two days from now?" She informed me that I was having a baby! She is so funny. Her decision to induce, eased my mind. I have been miserable for the last three months mostly due to the broken ankle. She said, there was no need to try to make it to my due date of October 12th. She believes he's about 8lbs and he's healthy and I'm huge and miserable....why continue on this way?

On my way to work, I called my mom, dad, brother, sister in law, Aunt Vickie, Aunt Billie. I got to work and informed everyone that in two days, I was having a baby! My team took me out for my "last" lunch. It's kind of funny that Terri came back from maternity leave this week and now I'm leaving.

In less than three days, I'm going to be a mom!!!! It's gone by so fast and yet so slow.

Doctor Doctor Doctor

My goal for this week was to find a pediatrician for our little boy. After talking with several coworkers and Dr Russell, I selected two offices that I wanted to check out. I had called ahead and made "meet and greet" appointments.

On Wednesday, I had my mom meet me at one of them. We went in there and there were two sections, one for well kids and one for sick kids. They weren't very well defined. A kid went and grabbed a play table from the "sick" area and drug it over to the "well" area. Not what I want for my kid! The sick kids have to walk through the well area to get to the sick area. Definitely not good. It wasn't a very kid friendly atmosphere. When we met with the doctor, he didn't seem very kid friendly or excited about kids and babies.

On Thursday morning, mom and I were back to Dr Russell's office. All the normal stuff of checking the heartbeat and seeing if I was dialated any more. 160bpm and still dialated 2cm. Nothing changed except it's a week later now.

On Thursday evening, we met at another doctor's office. This office actually had two entrance doors. A "sick" door and a "well" door. Brilliant and there was more to come! When we entered, the "sick" area was on the other side of a wall from the "well" area. The wall had a huge water tank in it with four turtles. Kids on both sides can see the turtles! Separate toys and books! All the receptionists and nurses had fun, kid-themed scrubs on. That made an impression on me. When we went back to the exam rooms, the sick kids visit entirely different rooms from the well kids! All of the rooms had fun wallpaper and paint and mirrors and stuffed animals. It was such a fun experience. Finally meeting with the doctor, I knew my son would be a patient here. Dr Katz is so kid friendly. He was excited about meeting us and answered all of our questions. It was so different from the day before. I called the next day and made arrangements for our baby to be his patient!

When will Nathan_____?

Today my mother-in-law hosted a baby shower for me. All the women in the family came. It was really nice. My mom was still in town so she was there too. I'm glad she's been at all three baby showers I've had. All the Toland women pitched in and got a crib for our little man. It's really beautiful. We played a couple games. For one of them, we had to taste baby food and write down what it was. Yuck....I think it was the texture I didn't like or the fact that there are no preservatives in baby food to make them taste good. My mom won that game. The other game was multiple choice. We had to predict when Nathan would change the first diaper, when he would get peed on, when he would make dinner, when he would get spit on, how many cigars he would hand out in celebration....etc. It was pretty funny. This was his mom's way of poking fun at him. After he's born, I will go through and find the winner. I think he will do most of the stuff within the first day or two. He's going to be a great dad.

On the way home, Nathan said, "We need to talk about when to have round two!!!!" I exclaimed, "Can we get round one done first?!?" He's excited about our new little family.

One month to go!!!

Another routine appointment today. My mom went with me. I called to let them know I was running late and they didn't have me in the book until 4:45. But since I was on my way, they could take me. Pregnancy brain. Dr. Russell said I was dialated 2cm which is good. She also guesstimated that he would weigh about 8 lbs. I still have four more weeks so we'll see how big she thinks he is in a couple of weeks.

Nathan's last travel weeks

Since Nathan stayed home with me all of July and August, he had some last travel to do before the little man arrives. My mom is coming to stay with me just in case. Two weeks of mom will be interesting but I know she will be very helpful.

One last look

I had my final ultra sound today....unless I go over my due date and Dr Russell orders another one. Our little boy still looks great and is moving around less because he's getting so big. Most of the movements now are kicks, punches and stretches. I met with Dr Russell after the ultra sound and she reassured me that everything is looking good and the baby is developing fine. I'm down to weekly appointments so not too much longer!

Since I'm off of full-time crutches, I figured I would treat myself to a massage. It was nice to get those mid back muscles worked over. It was very relaxing.

Tomorrow I'm treating my work buddies to lunch for all their help while I've been on crutches. They've gotten me lunch, water, my printer paperwork....etc. They are wonderful and good hearted people. It is a pleasure to work with them.

Finally some nesting

I was able to do some nesting that all expectant mothers do. My mom and I washed all the baby clothes and organized the closet. It was exciting yet tiring. I know I will do a lot more cleaning and organizing once I'm able to walk. Looking through all the clothes was so fun. We were also able to return some stuff and exchange some stuff I got from my baby showers.

Diaper Cake & Pink Bananas

My friends Deborah and Hollie hosted another baby shower for me today. They were so thoughtful and had it at my house. No packing me up or packing up the gifts.
Our little boy got church clothes, camo, boots, pajamas, a diaper cake and multiple cleaning products. We played a game where we had to guess the baby food. Who knew that bananas are pink?! The food was great, however, I never saw what kind of food there was or saw the cake before it was cut. The joys of being on crutches!

I had a great time with many friends. At the start, everyone had to introduce themselves and say how long they've known me. A friend of our family, Nancy, has known of me before I was even born. It was special to have her come.

Don't let the pigeon drive the bus.

They had a baby shower at work for me today. Erin put together a very nice party. My little boy got some cute clothes and more baby stuff than he'll ever use. I think after this, he won't need anything. My mom was here for that so it was special.

Craig made me read aloud one of the books they got for us. Don't let the pigeon drive the bus. Very cute. Ethan picked out his favorite books to share with our little guy. That is a special memory.

I saved all the gift bags and tissue paper.....at this rate I will never have to buy a baby gift bag ever again!

Two weeks Later....we're gaining momentum.

Another doctor's appointment today. We are now down to every two weeks. We met with Dr. Scariano. She might be on call when I go in and would perform a C-section if I need one. It was nice to meet with her. No new news with our little boy. Heartbeat was 160bpm again.

Shooting up

I think I might be enjoying this injection thing a little too much. I tell people I shoot up twice a day and they look at me like I'm crazy. My stomach has little purple bruises all over it. It's a good thing. I'm just getting sick of it.

Everything Baby Day

Today my mom and I went to Babies R Us and Target to set up my gift registries. We had so much fun. I was scooting around in a wheelchair reading every package. I had done quite a bit of it online from my desk at work....yes my boss caught me a couple times but she understood the difficulty I'm having.

After verifying everything at Babies R Us, we went to lunch at Black Eyed Pea. We then came home for a nap before hitting Target.

At Target we used their automatic shopping cart. We again hit the aisles and found everything a baby could every need. On our way out to the car, the automatic shopping cart died right in the middle of the automatic doors. I had traffic backed up. My mom went to grab my crutches out of the car. A nice lady asked if she could help me in any way....not sure what she was going to do. She went and got someone from the service desk to come get the cart when I told her my mom was getting my crutches. Good times!

And finally, off to another doctor's appointment. At this point, I had figured out that if I did have gestational diabetes, they would have called me. My doctor confirmed that my blood glucose level was normal. WHEW!!! We listened to his heartbeat again. 160bpm on the dot. My mom was so happy to hear his heartbeat.

Baby class

Friday and Saturday we had our baby class. I'm glad we did a weekend class rather than a weekly class. There were about 16 couples in there some which seemed like they could go into labor at any given moment. It was very interesting and educational. I think I learned a few things I didn't already know from reading every book possible. The fun part of the class was to find out what everyone was having and hearing names. Our name is the coolest. Too bad we can't tell you what it is yet.

Tastes like coke

Today I had my blood glucose test. I had to drink this cola an hour before being stuck with a needle. A friend of mine told me to boost up on proteins (namely eggs) before my test. I am slightly allergic to eggs but forced myself to eat two of them with my "coke." I got to the doctor's office and they took me to the back. The nurse stuck me and took about 5 tubes of blood. I really hope I don't have gestational diabetes. Life is already difficult enough without a modified diet.

Perfect baby continues

Another appointment today. Nothing exciting here. His heartbeat continues to be 160bpm. Very strong. I got the "wonderful" cola to drink for my next appointment...the blood glucose test!

Perfect in every way

This morning's ultrasound showed us what we needed. His face is forming perfectly normal. He was sucking his thumb for a brief moment! That made me cry. He's so human already. He was waving his hands around a lot in front of his face. I'm sure that's the movement I felt last night....him punching me.

Dog in a sleeping bag

Tonight as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep....something amazing happened!

I FELT HIM MOVE!!! He's really in there. It's hard to describe what it felt like but here it goes: Imagine putting a dog in a sleeping bag then the dog struggles to get out and scratches at every corner. Now when the dog scratches, imagine that feeling in your side. Weird I know.

I felt the movement on my left side between my ribs and my nonexistent waistline.

Tomorrow hopefully we will get the first look at his face. I hope he cooperates.

And the sex is......this time for real!!!

IT"S A BOY!!! Definitely all boy in there! Nathan had no doubt in his mind because genetically the Toland's only produce boys on the first baby....with one exception.

After showing his penis to the world, he decided he didn't want to show his face. I will have to come back in a few weeks so they can check the dimensions and formation of his face.

So now we know there will be no pink in the house! What a relief.

Now we look at camo, sports, cars, frogs, dogs, trains, lions, dinosaurs, tractors, trucks and the list goes on and on.

What if? The reality of pink.

It has came to my attention that we "could" have a girl. What am I going to do with all that pink?!? I hate pink. Purple is not that much better. There has to be baby girl clothes out there that are blue. Even red or orange or yellow.

Tonight my mom and I went to Babies R Us to check out the baby girl selection just to ease my mind. They had a nice assortment of blue, yellow, red and orange. Hallelujah....there is a possibility of no pink!!!!! I told my mom to buy one in every size so my little girl doesn't have to wear pink.

Three days until we find out!!!!