A little about Toby. . .

Toby Tolin had quite the crazy and scary journey to be here today. In January of 2014 (while living in Hungary and traveling to Vienna, Austria for health care), Toby’s parents, Elizabeth and Joshua, went to their regular 20 week check up only to discover that Toby didn’t look right on the ultrasound. The doctor sent them on to their second appointment for the day (an organ screening) to get the opinion of a different doctor. That doctor was very worried about Toby because he looked extremely small and wasn’t moving around much. She decided to send the parents to yet another doctor, a specialist, to get his opinion.

That specialist’s opinion was that while he didn’t know why Toby was so small, there was no way he would make it and the pregnancy should be terminated. There was no help for Toby in Vienna or anywhere else near where they lived in Hungary.

Elizabeth and Joshua decided that was the wrong answer.

They came home to the Rocky Mountain Region to find the best medical care they could, in order to give Toby every chance possible. That meant driving 100+ miles one way for weeks of appointments. Slowly, Toby progressed in weight and slowly, test results came back ruling out possible reasons for his growth problem. It was finally ruled that Toby was an IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) baby. In the end, Toby had a very bad placenta, that was small in and of itself. It functioned extremely poorly, and it’s a miracle Toby made it to the size he did.

Elizabeth was admitted to the hospital (Presbyterian/St. Luke’s) when she was 31 weeks 4 days pregnant as Toby had slipped in growth percentage again. He was now under the 5th percentile. Dr. Richard Porreco of Obstetrix Medical Group had hoped they could get two more weeks of growth while mom was hospitalized, but Toby had other plans. Five days later, on the 5th of April, Elizabeth noticed Toby wasn’t moving as much and told the nurses something was wrong. After hours of monitoring and trying everything to get Toby to be active, it was decided that “Toby was flying his flag” and it was time to come out.

Toby joined our world at 11:36pm via an emergency c-section. He weighed 2 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 14 3/4 inches long. He was a peanut to say the least. But, that peanut came into the world screaming!

As it turns out, Toby had tied a true knot, or a figure eight knot into his umbilical cord. The doctor who delivered Toby was baffled, as were the rest of the medical staff present. None had ever seen a knot like Toby’s unless it was in a medical book somewhere.

While it wasn’t the knot in the cord that restricted Toby’s growth, it certainly would have impacted Toby had it gone unnoticed. Elizabeth and Joshua feel they were blessed to be in the hospital. Had they not been, by their next appointment, Toby may have been gone as it would have been too late. From there, Toby spent just over five weeks at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, where many nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, and other staff did their jobs wonderfully and got him ready to come home.

Many friends, family and strangers will tell you they believe Toby is meant for big things. So here we are, starting those big things for him. Our goal is to spread hope and love and help inspire those who need it. Dynamite comes in tiny packages.