Meeting the Tooke's

The timing could not have been more perfect for Olivia's arrival. John, Julie, Amanda and Kayla were spending the holidays at their vacation property in New Braunfels. They drove in on New Year's Eve to meet Olivia for the first time. They spent some quality time with us at the hospital and then Lantz joined his family for a New Year's Eve dinner.

Hello Paw Paw

Olivia with Aunt Amanda

Olivia with JuJu, Aunt Amanda and Aunt Kayla

Ka and Pa Paw meet Olivia

Mom and Dad started packing their bags as soon as Lantz called them to let them know that we were having Olivia. They got on the road this morning so that they could meet their granddaughter.

Olivia with Pa Paw

Olivia with Ka

Hello World!

Due to a concern that Olivia's cord was very close to her face, we had a c-section scheduled for Wednesday, January 6th. I went to see Dr. Maxwell for my final visit before the big day. He decided not to do an exam since I was going to see the specialist on Monday, January 4th and would be in for my scheduled delivery on January 6th. I left the doctor's office and was on my way to work. I could not believe that there was only one week until we were finally going to meet our precious little girl.

It was about 2:30pm when I started to feel like something didn't seem right, but I continued to work. The weather was turning cold and there was a chance of ice and snow. I left the office around 5:45pm and called my longtime friend Jessica Cunningham to ask her some questions about what I (my body) was experiencing. I left a voicemail for Jessica and then decided to call Lantz. After talking to Lantz, we decided that it would be best for me to go to the hospital to get checked. I went to the house to feed Bailey (our first child/Beagle) and waited for Lantz to come pick me up. I really did not think that we were going to have Olivia that night, so I did not even take the suitcase that I had packed or our digital camera.

We arrived at the hospital, checked in and met with a Triage nurse. They decided to run a test to determine if my water broke. After the first test came back negative, they decided to run a second test which they said is more accurate. The nurse said that the test results could take anywhere from 5 - 10 minutes. After 5 minutes had passed, the test appeared to be negative. She decided to wait a little longer, when a second nurse came in and said that she thought the test was positive. The two nurses went out into the hall where we could hear them discuss with a third nurse whether the results were positive or negative as to my water breaking. I looked at Lantz and could not believe that they were debating this. The nurse finally came in and told us that my water had broke. Shortly there after, came the whirl wind of doctors preparing me for surgery. Lantz quickly got on the phone and started calling our family to share the news that Olivia would be entering the world in a short time. Olivia was born at 9:25pm. She weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 19.29 inches long. Lantz was in the delivery room supporting me during the c-section and captured the memories with the disposable camera we bought at the hospital. Her arrival on this night was truly a surprise!

We love you Olivia Grace Tooke!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas eve and we are doing our last minute shopping....for Olivia's necessities that is. We are scheduled to have a c-section on January 6th, so we decided that we should go ahead and get the last big items that we need (my pump, her swing and her baby monitor). It was in the 80's yesterday and today we are shopping in the snow. We might actually have a white Christmas in Texas (that is if it doesn't melt before tomorrow).




We decided to go to the 4:00pm Christmas Eve service at St. Andrews Catholic Church. The snow was coming down pretty hard while driving to church.



When we arrived, the church was packed with people and there was a sign on the door that they were no longer letting people in due to occupancy limits. The usher took one look at my "large" belly and decided to let us take a seat in the reserved hospitality pew. Before the service started, another woman asked if I was due tonight. I could not believe it I still had 3 weeks until my due date (and a week and a half until my scheduled c-section).

Lantz and I had plans to go out for a nice dinner, but changed our minds when we left the church and noticed there was ice collecting on the streets. It took us almost an hour to get home from church due to the ice and snow on the roads (and the fact that we stopped at the Olive Garden for carry out).

Surprise - It's gonna be a girl

I decided that I wanted to surprise my family with the news that we are having a girl. Lantz and I moved our appointment up a week, so my family has no idea that we know.

We met for dinner at the Brick Oven in Austin. After dinner, Lantz ordered chocolate mousse for dessert. Instead of bringing out the chocolate mousse he ordered, the waitress brought out a cake that we had ordered as part of the surprise. I didn't get quite the reaction that I was hoping for. The cake had white icing with pink balloons and said "It's gonna be a girl".

The restaurant was fairly dark and the pink icing was so light that everyone had a hard time reading it. I think they were also confused by the fact a cake was delivered to our table when we had ordered chocolate mousse. Deborah was the first one to realize that the purpose of the cake was to let them know that we are having a girl. Everyone was so excited to find out the news.

It's a Girl!

Today is the day that we are supposed to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. For some reason, Lantz and I think that we are having a boy.

As the woman was doing our sonogram, I told her that I was one of 7 women in my office who was pregnant. Of those 7 women, only one was having a girl. I continued to tell her that the pregnant women in my office would make comments about starting our own little league baseball team with all of the boys that were expected. It was just then that the sonographer turned the screen toward us and said "or they could all want to date your little girl". My eyes filled up with tears of joy. Lantz and I were both so excited. We are having a girl!