What's in a name?

Adalyn is a variation of the french name Adeline meaning noble. My great grandmother's name was Hazel Adeline (or maybe Adaline, we're not entirely sure).  Hazel Adeline Yancey Powell was born in 1902 and graduated high school at age 16. She attended what is now Oregon State University and graduated (a very uncommon accomplishment for a woman in those days)! There are no photos of her wedding because it was more important to use the money for photos of her college graduation. She worked for many years as the County Clerk in Prineville. She was a strong-willed, independent woman who traveled the world and accomplished anything she put her mind to. She was a very loving woman whom I remember fondly.

Akiko is a Japanese name meaning bright child, or light and bright. It was chosen for our girl to honor Adam's grandmother, Mary Akiko. Mary Akiko Ouchida Takami was born in 1921. When she was 19, she and her family were forced to move to a labor camp in Eastern Oregon due to the conflict between America and Japan during WWII. She too is a strong-willed, independent woman who took a job as a crew boss in the potato fields without her husband's knowledge. (It was considered shameful if a man's wife worked outside the home.) She has always put her family first, she values hard work and artistic talents, and is an excellent gardener and cook.

So, the names we chose for our daughter were not chosen lightly. She is named after two very incredible women who overcame challenging circumstances and accomplished great things. We hope our girl will follow in the footsteps of her namesakes. As she grows up, I'll remind her of these song lyrics: "Never compromise what's right, and uphold your family name. You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything."

And now, the second installment of "Adalyn"s First 24 Hours in Photos":

Thankful

Thankful for:

- Endless love and support from family, friends, doctors, nurses, and random acquaintances. We've been overwhelmed by the generosity of others and feel SO lucky to be surrounded by such AMAZING people.
- A well-stocked refrigerator. (See above)
- A healthy, happy baby. She sleeps so well and so very rarely fusses. We love her more than we ever even knew possible.
- A quick recovery. I've been back on my feet since the day after surgery and feel great! I never dreamed I'd bounce back this quickly.
- An absolutely incredible husband. There is absolutely no way I could do any of this without him. (I don't know how single parents survive.) Adam has been the most supportive husband and amazing Dad I could ever imagine. He even puts up with the crazy lady. (Yes, she still shows up now and again.)


And now, for the first installment of 'Baby's First 24 Hours in Photos':

More to come. (We've taken 546 photos since Tuesday. I have a lot to sort through!)

Adalyn Akiko Tolman

Adalyn arrived at 9:59 am on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 via C-section! She weighed in at 6 lbs 9.8 oz and 19.5 inches long. She is a happy and healthy baby. Mom and Dad are doing well too! We expect to be home Thursday evening or sometime Friday.

Last Pregnant Post

I feel like I should post something on my last evening of pregnancy although I don't have a whole lot to say. We're ready and excited for tomorrow and hoping we'll be able to sleep through the night (it may be our last chance for a while!)

We are planning to leave the house around 6:00 to arrive at the hospital by 8:00 to get all set before surgery at 9:30. Mom is going to follow us over and Ad's mom and my dad will head over around 10:00. Ad will join me in the OR. After baby arrives he and baby will head to recovery where I'll meet them after I'm all closed up. We'll spend 2-3 hours in recovery and once the feeling has returned to my legs, we'll move to our room in the mother baby care unit. The expected length of stay is 2-3 nights.

I'm planning to take my laptop with us. So, as long as they have WiFi, I'll give you an update (with pictures) as soon as I can!

Thank you all for the well wishes. We're so excited to start this new adventure!

(Almost) Complete!

We were able to put a few finishing touches on Little Miss Tolman's room this week! We still have a few things to finish up, but I thought I'd share a few photos. I'm not sure the photos do it complete justice, but you'll get the idea. I guess you'll just have to come visit to get the full effect. :)

The things I like most about her room are:
- It's not overly girly or babyish. We chose bright colors and lots of them to keep it spunky and fun without being overly cutesy.
- We didn't go out and buy a whole bunch of brand new stuff. Her crib was handmade by her Dad. Her dressers and nightstand belonged to her Great-great-grandmother (my Great Grandma Hazel) and her Great-Uncle (Adam's Uncle Wayne) and were refinished by her dad. The 'artwork' on her walls was put together by her mom without going out and buying anything. I just took pictures of our family and dogs and put them in frames we already had and typed up some song lyrics I liked and put them in a frame we already had. The rocking chair belongs to her Oma and Grandpa John and the ottoman was a hand-me-down from Grandma Hazel to Oma (with the original orange corduroy cover Oma made for it in the 70s!).

Looking in from doorway

The mirror will hang centered above the crib.

We're going to put wooden letters on the mirror to spell out her name.

Baby's picture will go in the center of the lefthand frame.

"May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having, 

with every year passing they mean more than gold. 

May you win but stay humble, smile more than grumble, 

and know when you stumble, you're never alone."

Nightstand was Uncle Wayne's, rocking chair and ottoman were Oma's,

and the dresser was my Great Grandma Hazel's. 

The bottom drawer of the dresser will have a brown front like the top two drawers when Dad gets to it.

Changing area with family and friends quilt hanging above

The closet is already overflowing! 

The drawers of Uncle Wayne's dresser will have brown fronts when Dad gets to it.

Done

So I've reached the point where I'm ready to be DONE with pregnancy and move on to motherhood. I'm DONE with the smiling and nodding when people make inappropriate comments and I'm definitely DONE with the emotional, cleaning-obsessed crazy woman living inside of me.

I wish I could think of all of the stories of people saying weird things. They happen on a daily basis. These are some of the highlights.

As a man is picking up his prescription, "So, when are you gonna come fresh?"
Me:  . . . *crickets* . . . "Um, well . . . wait, what?!"
(According to Roger this man grew up on a dairy. Apparently when a heifer (a first time mom cow) comes into her milk for the first time it's called "freshening" or something like that. I don't know if freshening is a sign that the baby is about to arrive or if it happens after the baby arrives. Either way, it's not something you say to your pharmacist!)

From our #1 Strange Lady patient, "So, are you excited to be a mom? You're having a girl right? Oh, that will be so nice! When I had my babies..." and on and on and on she goes... Then, in a whisper she asks, "Are you going to nurse?"
Me: 'Do I really have to answer this?' "Well, I'm planning to give it a try."
Her: (Still whispering) "So, have you been practicing?"
Me: 'What?! No, she didn't just ask me this. Ugh! Couldn't the phone ring or something right now? Please make this conversation stop.' 
At this point I think I was just staring at her. I don't think I said anything. She must have taken that as a "No" because she then went on to explain how to do so. I'll leave that part out.

And from a random acquaintance: "So, you ready to get rid of that thing yet?"
Me: Does he think I'm giving her up for adoption or something? "Um, well, I'm excited to meet her!"



And that cleaning-obsessed crazy woman I was telling you about? She started showing her face a week or two ago, but she came out in full force this weekend. She caused me to do things I've never done before:

- Scrub the inside of the doghouse with Pine-Sol. (Yes, I crawled inside the doghouse 9 months pregnant when it was about 100 degrees outside.) I also washed all of the dog blankets and bed covers and vacuumed the kennel. Crazy Lady's thinking: Other people might have to feed the dogs for us while we're away at the hospital. I wouldn't want them thinking we don't take good care of our dogs.

- Scrub the baseboards in the hallway with Softscrub. Crazy Lady's thinking: We may be having lots of visitors. They'll all be very concerned with the cleanliness of our home. We can't have them thinking we'd bring a baby into a dirty house.

- Vacuum the kitchen and living room 3 times in one day. (Adam kept tracking sawdust in as he was working on projects for the baby's room.) Crazy Lady's thinking: The house must be kept clean at ALL times. Labor could begin at ANY moment.


Those are a few of the examples of why I'm done with pregnancy. It's time to move on and start a new life of diapers, bottles, and long nights! Little Miss Tolman has been VERY active lately so I'm hoping that means she's done too. She must be wanting to stretch her legs by now, right?

Come on little lady, you can make your appearance any day now!

As promised

Kristi - here are the pictures I promised! I haven't managed to get a Mony Mony video done yet, so these will have to do. This is the belly at 38 weeks, 2 days:

One of my co-workers has a sister who owns an inversion table. She's letting us borrow it in an effort to get Little Miss Tolman in the correct position. So if you call and I say I'm just hanging out, this is what I mean:

I'm working on some framed photos of Little Miss Tolman's closest family members to hang in her room. This is the one of her mom that I'm considering sprucing up:

I think that's it for now! Last week of work before baby arrives, here I come!

Scheduled

Baby Girl's C-section has been scheduled! August 17, 2010 is the big day! We're supposed to be at the hospital by 8:00 am and the surgery is to begin at 9:30 am. That is the plan unless, of course, she changes her mind. We shall see.

In the meantime I'm going to make a good effort to post more pics on here. I've had requests for more pregnancy photos so I'll see what I can do. Also, the nursery is finally nearing completion, so I'll be sharing that as well.

Doctor's appointment update:
BP: 120/60 mmHg
Total weight gain: 25 1/2 lbs
Baby's growth: good
Baby's heartbeat: good
Baby's position: breech
Group B strep test: negative (which means I wouldn't require antibiotics if I delivered vaginally)

All in all, great news! Hopefully it continues to be smooth sailing from here on out! :)