The Croslands: August 2009

Our bundle of joy has finally arrived, and he is Perfect! Cody and I are so blessed and we are loving every minute of being a parent!

Colton Cody Crosland was born Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 3:27 am, weighed 7 lbs. and measured 19 1/2 inches long.

The delivery was a very long process... We went into the hospital on Monday night, August 17th to be induced. They started me on medicine that evening and then the next morning started pitocin. We were so excited and truly thought Colton would be here the following day. With the pitocin I wasn't progressing I was still sitting at 2 cm. I started having lower back pains which made everyone think that Colton was pushing on my spine to where I was having back labor. It felt better to sit up in a chair with some heat on my lower back. Other than the back pain I was not hurting from the contractions, I was in no major pain.

Dr. Mullin came in and checked on us many times and finally broke my water around 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Well... it was like a switch went off right after she broke my water. The contractions started and they were painful! Dr. Mullin said she could tell they were bad just by talking to me because my facial expressions changed. The biggest part of my pain was in my lower back. With the pain I thought ok I'm going to be further along and this boy is on his way. Well... I was wrong. I kept asking if it was too soon to get an epidural, once again the pain was my back that was so severe. Our wonderful nurse Janice said I could get it whenever I couldn't take it anymore. My back was hurting so bad that we went ahead and asked for the epidural. She was so good that within 5 minutes the anesthesiologist was there prepping to give me the epidural. Cody had to leave the room for liability reasons so I told him to move the Tahoe around to help get his mind off of it. I could tell it was hard for him to leave me and I didn't want him to leave either. I was a bit nervous to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist was amazing, very sweet and gentle. The epidural was in and Cody was back. Now we were waiting for the medicine to start working. They had me lay on my side, well in the position I was in the worst pain! It was worse than before I got the epidural. Once again it is my back that is in the worst pain that I can't even describe. Cody was right next to my side talking me through all of the contractions. We called the anesthesiologist and she came back down and gave me some booster, I thought that the pain wasn't right especially for having an epidural. It took about 20 minutes and then I was a new woman. I've heard from many people that back labor is the worst and I must say it was horrible, I don't wish that pain on anyone!

The day goes on and we notice on the monitor that Colton's heart rate drops. We check to make sure all of the monitors are good and we continue to monitor. Colton's heart rate is still dropping, not consistently but drops at times during a contraction. The nurse puts me on oxygen and we try putting me in many different positions. They would flip me, becuase I can't move anything from the waist down - crazy feeling, to try and help Colton with his heart rate. I am on oxygen for a good part of the afternoon and then it all starts over again that evening. His heart rate drops, I'm on oxygen and they are flipping me every 30 minutes. I am still at about 2 1/2 cm dilated at this point, Tuesday evening. They decide to put an internal monitor on Colton's head to get a more accurate reading of his heart rate so they can watch him more closely. Come to find out later this monitor that they put on Colton they put in his scalp, Cody and I were not happy about that, he has a mark on his head and it is now healing fine. Although Cody and I are grateful for their fast work on Colton and I and making sure he is ok we still didn't like the idea of them poking something into his scalp. Of course during all of this going on I was a wreck, Cody was so amazing at staying strong for all of us and calming me down, we knew that I had to be calm for Colton. We continued to pray over Colton to make sure everything was ok with him.

While his heart rate was dropping my epidural seemed to have run out and oh guess what, the back labor pains were back! I was able to get more medicine, thank goodness! Apparently I was on the epidural longer than most people because this happened more than once.

Around 11:30 that evening Dr. Mullin checked and I was still 2 1/2 cm dilated. Throughout the evening we had discussed since no progression was being made, the back labor, which means he could possibly be turned, a c-section. Of course neither of us wanted to have a c-section but we knew that we wanted what was best for Colton. We discussed with Dr. Mullin a c-section but she was absolutely amazing and was very patient with us and never forced us into a decision that we weren't comfortable with. She told us to give it a little more time and she was expecting him between 3 and 4 am Wednesday morning. We fully trust Dr. Mullin and went with that plan. We tried to get some rest, because I was still being monitored very closely, still on oxygen and being flipped and moved every 30 minutes.

1:30 am Wednesday morning, Dr. Mullin came in and checked to see if I had made any progress. I figured I was still 2 1/2 and Cody is saying that I am 5 - 5 1/2. Sure enough my hubby is right Dr. Mullin said I am 5 1/2 could even say 6 cm!!! WOO HOO!! We were so happy and it made us think that a c-section may not have to happen. Things are good and Cody and I try to get a little more sleep. 2:30 rolls around and I am having that back pain again because my meds have run out, we call the anesthesiologist and she pretty much said that she has done everything she can for me. According to Cody my face was priceless when the nurse told us that! Holy cow, I didn't think I was going to make it. The nurses check me, Dr. Mullin is down the hall with another patient, and sure enough I am 9 cm!!!! The nurse told us that we were having this baby within the hour!!! Oh my goodness the room went crazy then! Cody was moving all of our stuff to a corner to get it out of the way and nurses were getting the room ready. Dr. Mullin is in there talking to me and checked me as well. I guess at this point Cody said that my mommy instincts kicked in and I didn't feel any pain, it was go time and I was going! Kim, Dr. Mullin's nurse was called and she was up there helping with the delivery. Kim was and is our favorite nurse. She has been such a wonderful friend to us!

Go Time! Cody is on my right side and was wonderful. The nurses, Dr. Mullin and Cody are talking and they were talking about his head and I asked if I could see what they were talking about. They asked if I wanted the mirror and I said, "Sure!" Cody was a bit nervous for me to have the mirror to see everything that was going on. Later he said that it was a good thing because it showed me the progress that I was making because I couldn't feel a thing!!! (Which is probably a really good thing after seeing what was happening!) Cody was supposed to cut the cord but as he came out the cord was wrapped around him which we think was the cause of his heart rate dropping. But watching everything that was happening was amazing! Of course I wont go into detail but it was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. And as I am typing this out tears are flowing down my face. What a miracle that Cody and I were able to see, our son Colton Cody be brought into this world!

Colton came out, cried and was absolutely perfect! Dr. Mullin held him up and then they took him to the warmer. Cody kissed me, talked to me, made sure I was ok and then went to the warmer to be with our son! Cody talked to him while the nurse was cleaning him up and held his hand. While he was on the warmer he didn't cry very much, I think it was Daddy's voice that calmed him. Once he was cleaned up Cody brought him over to me and handed him to me. It was such a wonderful moment the three of us holding each other and loving on him!

This birth was a moment that Cody and I shared and will never forget it has truly changed our life. We are very blessed that God chose us to be his parents and that he is a healthy boy. All in all the delivery went very well it was all of the time leading up to it that I had some difficulties. Since I delivered at night the room was dark and there were very few lights on. I truly think that the darkness made it more calm. I enjoyed that it was dark in there and it wasn't very bright. I guess that is one benefit for delivering in the middle of the night. :) I pushed for about 20-25 minutes total so that part was not bad at all. And of course everything that we went through was all worth it because Colton is here with us!

Here are some of Colton's first pictures and visitors that we had at the hospital. I ended up delivery Colton on his due date, August 19. Cody and Colton will each have their own birthday just a day apart and will be able to enjoy many birthdays fishing at the coast!

Monday night, we just checked into the hospital. 39 weeks 5 days

I showered before we went to the hospital that night but I didn't have time to straighten my hair. I knew that straightening it would make me feel better being there and last a long time since I didn't know how long we were going to be there.

Tuesday night, Brenda (night nurse), Dr. Mullin, Kim

Priceless!

Proud Daddy and His Boy!

Holding Daddy's hand!

Kim with me while Cody was with Colton at the warmer.

Cody bringing Colton to me for the first time.

Our Family!

The Crosland Family!

Proud Parents staring at our Miracle!

One very proud Grandpa with his First Grandson!
Grandpa Bruce and Christine

G-Mama and G-Pa

Can you tell how excited they are?!?! Watching Colton get cleaned up in the Nursery! Thanks for keeping a close eye on him!

Back with Mom and Dad after being in the nursery. Already has his digital camo beanie on! He's already following in his Daddy's footsteps!

Daddy wrote this in our room.

Daddy changing his First Diaper! What a Great Daddy!

Look at those big eyes, just like his Dad!

Jenn and Colton

Michele and Colton - a.k.a. The Katy Granny for Mr. Colton! :)

Michele, Jenn and I ooohhing and aaahhing over Little Man!

Our Favorite Nurse, Janice. She was Awesome!!

Proud Mama! Loving every second with Little Man!

Enjoying time with Colton

Aunt Shannon

Aunt Aimee

Uncle Jay

Julie and Colton

Kim and Colton

He found his thumb, well he found it inside my belly because we have an ultrasound picture of him sucking his thumb.

Hearing Test (He Passed!) - He looks like he's jammin' on an iPod!

His outfit to go home in. We brought many different outfits But they were all way too big for him!

Colton definitely got his Daddy's long legs and torso! What a handsome boy and a wonderful birthday present for Dad. We went home on Cody's birthday!

Our Family is Home on Daddy's Birthday!

Well... we made it to the George Strait Concert!!! We bought our tickets in May and knew that the concert was 11 days before my due date. The question was... We're we going to make the concert?!?! Dad and Christine came up and went to the concert with us. Knowing that traffic was going to be bad we knew we had get down there early to eat dinner. We ate at Olive Garden with only about a 30 minute wait, this was much better than some restaurants around the area that had 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait!!

We are now on our way to the concert, we decided to try a side street to get to our parking lot, the lot that we we pre-paid for. Well... that side street took us forever!!!!! The traffic was horrible, we just sat in a line for about 45 minutes!

We finally parked near the back of the parking lot and walked a mile maybe less (I don't know how long it was, but it was hot and I was big and preggo!) to the front gate and get inside to find out we missed Julianne Hough! Bummer!! We were able to see half of Blake Shelton's performance.

Our seats were great!!! We were in Row B which meant we were the second row in the stands! I thought the seats were great! Cody kept asking me, "I'm sure people at the top would love to switch tickets with us so we can sit at the top." I didn't quite understand why he kept asking me this and told him "No way!! I love being down here!!" Well... After Blake Shelton we went up to the top to get them a beer and a bathroom break for me. Walking up that huge flight of stairs was torture! Going down was fine but walking up was a bit more difficult! Now I knew what he meant by switching tickets! Of course, I still said "No!"

Bathroom break! Oh my goodness I don't think I have ever seen a line to the girl's bathroom this long in my life!!! And of course being pregnant I have to go ALL the time! People saw me coming and I guess at this point I do look like he is going to come any day and people were so nice and they let me go right on up to the front of the line and let me use the restroom. Of course people were asking when I was due and all sorts of other questions! They couldn't believe I was there with 11 days left. They did think that would be cool if Colton came during the concert! And if he did we would have to name him George! Trust me the thought of having Colton at the concert had already crossed our mind! It would have been a great way to bring him into the world, hearing George Strait!!! The lines for the bathroom continued the entire concert and the kindness of all of the ladies there that night continued as well!

We saw Sugarland and they were fabulous!!! Then... George Strait came out and the stadium went CRAZY!!!! It was so awesome!! He put on such a great show and Colton enjoyed it as well. He moved the entire concert! I guess we have a cowboy on our hands! It was a wonderful night. We enjoyed every bit of the concert!

We walked the long way back to our car and I was very swollen and feeling pains that I hadn't normally felt... Our thinking was, I got to see George and now Colton could make his big debut! Obviously, he wasn't quite ready, I just walked a lot and needed to rest.

Blake Shelton