Lucanne at 3 weeks

Yesterday was Lucanne's 2 week follow up with the family doctor. She is now up to 8lbs and 11oz, 21 inches long and her head has a 35cm circumference. In just two weeks she had gone from being in the 25th percentile for weight and length to being in the 50th percentile. (Her head is now in the 75th percentile!) Every thing was a-okay and she was an absolute champ about letting the doctor put lights, probes and other machines in her eyes, ears and mouth. She didn't cry or fuss except when the doctor put his icy cold stethoscope on her chest and when they did the "heel stick" for her follow up PKU (genetic test). Can't say I blame her there. OUCH! (Photo: Nonnie, Lucanne & Grandpa Robbie)

The dogs (still) absolutely love her and guard over her 24/7. Aria gets so stressed whenever Lucanne cries. Lucanne apparently loves them too, especially when they lick her toes. (Photo: Lucanne lying next to her Loki)

Lucanne has been showing us her different facial expressions so we are getting a taste of what a beautiful smile she will have! She furrows her brow when concentrating...definitely a trait she shares with her daddy.


Her hair is turning lighter with every passing day. She still has all the hair she was born with, but now in some places it could almost pass for white-blond. GranMomika thinks it could end up being a strawberry-blond. Grandma Nonnie thinks it will get curly. I think it will be a long time before we know for sure...if she is anything like me what she has now will all fall out and we won't know anything about her hair until she is past 2 years old when it finally looks less like peach fuzz! (Photo: Nonnie with a sleeping Lucanne)

Her sparkling blue eyes and cherub-like face turns heads every where we go. Whether it is out to lunch, at the grocery, or shopping at Babies'R'Us she just draws people's attention! I don't think I have ever seen so many people fuss over a baby before. Elderly people want to stop and look at her, men in restaurants will chat us up, groups of people turn their heads to get a look at her, strange women will stop me and want to know all the details surrounding her birth, even little kids want to check her out and ask her name. It is an odd sensation to me. Do people actually do this to other newborns, or is there some extra special charm about Lucanne like the new age/spiritual healer suggested when we first found out we were facing complications in the pregnancy?? I know she is something special to me and her Daddy. I still get all choked up when I look into her eyes and tell her how much she is loved!

Much to my chagrin, she has her Daddy's finger and toe nails. They apparently will need to be trimmed every week! Both of us have scratch marks as she explores the physical world immediately around her with her hands, and strengthen her legs with kicks.

Lucanne eats like a little piglet, sometimes feasting for an hour or more before being sated. This wouldn't be so bad if she didn't choose her 2am feeding time or my dinner time to stock up on her food stores! (Photo: Lucanne sleeping on her Daddy's chest)

Mostly, Lucanne sleeps 3-4 hours at a time. She is becoming more alert and staying awake longer in between naps though. Even at night she is still letting us get 3-4 hours of uninterrupted sleep...mostly. She does get some gastric distress that does hinder her sleep at times, but mostly she just toots it out without waking up. I've never heard a newborn fart so loudly!! :D

Granpa Robbie and Grandma Nonnie visited last week. They were a great help with Nonnie "spoiling" Lucanne rotten with holding her as much as possible and Grandpa doing odds and ends to help us around the house. Nonnie also helped me with a lot of household chores like laundry, dishes, and picking up. What a relief it was to have their help! I didn't realize just how tired I really was!! (Photo: Lucanne getting love from Grandpa Robbie)

Lucanne is an absolute gem. She clearly loves being held which is a good thing since no one wants to put her down! We are so pleased to have her with us.

Introducing....

Welcome, sweet baby Lucanne Alexandra Robbins!!!

Sorry this is so late in coming, but her first week in the wide world was a rather hectic one for Mom! On May 29, at 6:41pm, Lucanne decided to introduce herself to the world. It was a long, hard road to get here, but she did make it...and on her own time.

At 1:20am on Thursday my water broke leaving me in a bit of a confused state. Here I was, sound asleep, dreaming peacefully, when my dream suddenly changed into a half alert state of pseudo dreaming. Within a few seconds I realized that my dream was a reality and baby was on the way!

In real time it took me about a half hour to wake up Ty and an hour to call the doctor, who immediately said to start to head down the hill to the hospital despite having no contractions. To me it felt like only a few minutes had passed. I made the call to Mom and we headed down to the hospital.

After approximately 10 hours of labor and no progression in dilation, Lucanne rotated around and I went into what is called back labor. I wasn't feeling a thing in my stomach, but I could barely stand the pain in my back as she pressed up against my pelvis and spine. As much as I wanted to do a completely natural labor with no drugs or intervention I had to ask for an Epidural. With the Epidural came the first doses of Pitocin to get the dilation in gear. After the Epidural I became a much more lively person as I no longer had to worry about feeling anything at all. At some point Kevin showed up at the hospital to lend his support, but by this time I had absolutely no concept of time. It could have been 6 in the morning for all I knew.

Even with the Epidural and Pitocin, or maybe because of, it still took several more hours until I had reached the full 10cm of dilation to start the pushing phase of labor. But just because I was at that stage didn't mean it was going to go any faster. In an in-your-face style, Lucanne apparently made a decision to wait until after my OB left to make her entrance.

With a new OB on hand and 2 and 3/4 hours of pushing Lucanne was hung up on my pelvic bone and not able to make it out on her own. The OB informed us that if she did not come out soon we would have to go into surgery. Another option would be to use a suction device called a Kiwi to help re-adjust the position of her head and hope she moved down on her own. Since all our birth planning flew out the window with the introduction of the Epidural and Pitocin we decided to try the suction once before going to the more drastic measure of surgery. Thankfully, the Kiwi worked and 3 pushes later Lucanne was laying on my stomach!

Despite having problems with the OB and the delivery, we are extremely grateful to have our Lucanne with us. It was arduous, but at the end of the journey it was all worth the wait. Lucanne was born at 7 lbs even, 19.5 inches long and with quite a bit of sandy blond hair.

We were released from the hospital at about 1:30 Friday and took her home to meet the dogs. The dogs have been wonderful with her. They seem to love her and worry about her whenever she cries...which isn't really all that often.

11 days later and she is still doing great. She sleeps 4-5 hours at a time and is feeding wonderfully. Mom is doing good and is recovering nicely. Dad is a trooper and helps tons by offering to change diapers, get her from her cradle in the middle of the night, and even give her an occasional bottle when needed. When he holds her and talks to her she is calmed by his voice. And you can tell that he is completely smitten by her!!

Thanks again to everyone who sent their prayers and thoughts while we were going through the rough parts! We hope you all get the chance to meet her soon! She is as precious as any baby can be, and even more so to us after everything we went through to get her here!!!