Nolan Michael Gladys

Welcome to the World! I've not posted for just over a month and so much has happened it's hard to know where to begin...

We had so many baby showers and were really overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from people. The ACR faculty threw us a shower, and then the final baby shower was given by the girls from the soccer team. The parents and girls really hooked us up with everything we could possibly have wanted and now all we had to do was get ready for the really big day.

There were still a few more doctor appointments for Mandy and I to go to. One of the doctors was asking about the size of the baby and noticed that Mandy might have a hard time delivering a big baby. After he heard the story of Liz's traumatic delivery he ordered an ultrasound to get the EFW (estimated fetal weight). GOOD THING HE DID THIS!!!! When we got the ultrasound the technician, and all of us really, was quite surprised to see little Nolan's head up. The dreaded b word... BREECH! How could that be? The doctor told us during an exam that he could feel Nolan's head... he must have been mistaken. At any rate, the doctors then told us that he would have to be delivered via cesarian section. After the initial shock we came to the realization that this was a relief on many levels. For one thing, we were able to schedule the delivery at that day and time that would work best and we were able to select the surgeon that we wanted to perform the operation. It also made us relieved to know that had we gone through the labor process, Mandy would have labored for hours before the doctors would have realized that Nolan was butt-first and then ordered the emergency c-section.

The big day came on Wednesday, March 24th. We showed up at the hospital at 6am and got ready. They took Mandy into the operating room and left me to wait until they came to get me. About 20 minutes later they rushed me, in full scrubs, into the O.R. I was greeted by the sight of Mandy's stomach wide open for the world to see. Feeling very light headed, I sat down at her head behind the "screen". About 5 minutes later one of the doctors said, "it's definitely a boy" (which we knew) and they pulled him out! It was all so surreal, it seemed like a dream. They called me over to the table and I cut the cord, picked him up and brought him over to Mom. After putting her back together we went over to the recovery room where they monitored her for a while, tested Nolan, checked everything out, and then sent us up to our room where we would stay for the next three nights.

As it turns out we knew a lot of people working in baby care unit and were treated very well. We had a great room with a view of the mountains and the nurses were wonderful. On the 2nd day I went to the airport to pick up my Dad and brought him to see his first grandson. It was a great moment. My dad and I even managed to sneak a weeee bit of Irish whiskey into the hospital room to toast little Nolan...

Making a long story short, he has checked out beautifully so far. My Mom drove down to join Dad and they stayed here for a week. Mandy's Mom came to stay with us the day my parents left and she has been here ever since. Today, we had newborn pictures taken in a marathon session. I'm sure there will be some of those pictures posted here as well. In summary- WE ARE BLESSED with a beautiful, healthy baby boy and our whole world has changed for the better. We are so very grateful to our friends and family for their wishes of support and for their help through all of this. We look forward to sharing Nolan's story with all of you as the days,weeks,months, and years go by!

It's raining diapers!

In between sneak peaks of the Olympics, preparing the house (nesting...), and the beginning of the girl's soccer season, we have managed to get in another baby shower- this one was organized by our friend Lori, who Mandy coaches volleyball with at Reynolds. We met the volleyball girls at Applebees and got showered with tons of diapers and other fun things. One of the parents made a pretty cool "diaper cake"

Mandy is now 35 1/2 weeks in and we see the light at the end of the tunnel. In two weekends I take the soccer team to Chattanooga for a weekend and that will be 20 days before the due date. The fact that I will be 3 hours away for a weekend almost guarantees that Nolan will choose this time to come forth, so place your bets now...

35 1/2 weeks

Nolan's room

Some updated pictures of his room :) The waiting game begins!!

In the Home Stretch...

It's been a while since we've updated the blog- so much has happened here. First and foremost the story of the past month has been the WEATHER! Holy Snow! We have already gone well over our allotted snow days and the school system has taken away two days of our spring break to make up for it. Mandy had her baby shower in the middle of a blizzard. We are so thankful for the gifts and that people actually braved the weather to get to Kathleen's Tearoom for the party! We wished everyone could have been there!!! Huge props to Andi and Lindsay for getting it together. I especially want to thank Rob and Bill for shoveling snow all morning and for not dropping dead of a heart attack while doing it. Eventually Bill was overtaken by common sense and flashed a 20 at a passing snowplow driver and the job was done! Mom and Jessica paid the price for being in Asheville during a blizzard. Their flight was delayed by about 8 hours at the AVL airport but eventually they made it back to the D. Mandy's Mom came in the next day and has been here for the past week shopping for Nolan and getting more stuff ready. Mandy is now in her 8th month and the reality is closing in. Final preparations have been made to Nolan's room and we are trying frantically to go over lists and make sure we have everything we need for the baby boy. In short, we are both very thankful for our friends and family and we feel blessed and excited for what is to come!

BIRTHING CLASS

Wow. That's pretty much all I can say after our weekend birthing class. I went into it thinking it was going to be mostly Lamaze type of breathing exercises... that was not the case. Rather than the once-a-week for 8 weeks course, we opted to cram it all into a Friday night and all day Saturday affair. I won't even bother with the details because those who have done it already know, and those who haven't will have to find out on their own. Probably the most memorable thing that I learned was the practical stuff- where do I park, where do I take Mandy, what should we bring, etc- along with a million other things to expect- the bottom line is to expect the unexpected I think.

Mandy is at 29 weeks! now and the days and weeks are flying by as we keep trying to get ready for Nolan's arrival. It seems like it is going to be impossible to get everything done by March but we are trying. UPS packages keep arriving daily with gifts for Nolan from our registry- thank you everyone! Even though Elli is not happy and would go through the window to kill the guy in the brown truck if given a chance, we get excited everyday to see what is arriving next. One day when he is walking up the driveway with a package I think I am just going to burst open the door and let Elli show him what brown can do for him...

29 weeks

Nolan Michael's room

Upon returning to frigid North Carolina we set about to make Nolan's room a reality. In between watching some bowl games the vision of the nursery came to fruition. Mandy and I spent all weekend taping, painting, and painting some more and the result is... pretty damn good actually. We are very happy with the way it has turned out so far. Now comes the hard part- putting together all of the furniture... On a side note- it is as cold as it ever has been around here and there isn't any relief in sight this week. We are hunkered down in the house with the heat on full blast and our very tough guard dog who is under 4 layers of blankets and hasn't moved for a day or two... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BABY SHOWER!!!

A highlight of our trip to Florida was the baby shower- held at Nicole's Village Tavern in Wellington. (sight of the infamous Jake Postlewait slapping incident) The ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves in the VIP area while the men held their meeting at the bar, and Nolan Michael got enough presents to more than fill our car! The best part for Mandy was getting to see so many of her friends and family. We are so very thankful for everyone who came out to make it a special and memorable night for all of us!!!