I found my toes....

Lucanne Alexandra and the Reluctant Father

I am the reluctant father, not reluctant in my love or admiration or awe of our child, but reluctant in my desire to spontaneously share that love, admiration, and awe with others.

Every father speaks about their children with pride and I am no exception, but I have been resolved in my goal of not being "that guy". You know the guy that so expounds on his child's gifts and achievements that he has become a boorish git that you try to avoid. When asked I do go on (ramble) about our remarkable daughter, but my policy is that I try not to volunteer my stories.

The last week has seen three rather amazing things from our two-month-old: mimicry, preference, and her first word. I now break my reluctance policy to expound at length on our amazing child and her incredible development.

Since the day she was born, Lucanne Alexandra has displayed unusual development. 14 hours after her birth the staff Pediatrician at the hospital, while giving Lucanne her first exam, commented on three things that he had rarely (or never) seen in a newborn. She only seemed to cry as a specific response to stimulus, not indiscriminately as most newborns. When she did cry she was very quick to calm herself. And finally, she could focus her eyes. This last point was very shocking to him as he realized that not only could she focus, but she was following his movements with her eyes at various depths.

Within the first two days of her life, Karna and I came to realize that Lucanne already had a vocabulary of sounds. Not just a variety of cries, she had very distinct noises each with specific purposes. She only cried at pain, she grunted when she was hungry (earning her first nickname - McGilla Gorilla), and she whimpered softly when uncomfortable (specifically with a dirty diaper). The older she gets the more nuanced this vocabulary of sounds has become.

Within the first two weeks, Lucanne had reach significant milestones of rolling on to her side unassisted, scooting all over the bed when placed on her stomach, being able to hold her head up on her own (albeit for only 30-90 seconds before she lost focus and let it flop down), and finally rolling over on her own. According to the popular baby books, most of these milestones would be expected at three months or well beyond in some cases.

By a month she was smiling - and not "from gas". When Karna told her mother about the smiling, Monika was dismissive that it was gas, but when Karna brought Lucanne to Monika's office so she could show off her granddaughter, the baby cooed, smiled, and even giggled her way through all the attention. At that moment Monika realized something remarkable is going on with this child. Also within that first month she went from holding her head up to moving it all around, following noises and movement

In the last month, Karna and I have become accustomed to Lucanne's abilities and haven't really reacted to what are really remarkable feats. When I reflect on it, there are many things to note:

• She had always had a purposeful grip since the day she was born; she held on to my finger for an hour while the nurses attended her. In the last month she began reaching for and grabbing things.
• She's also been trying to pull herself up, she can't get there on her own, but she can get half way.
• She's begun lifting her torso with her back muscles, again she can't sit up or anything, but when either Karna or I go to pick her up, she lifts her back toward us to help.
• She's begun to use her face to express what she's thinking/feeling - most notably she furrow's her brow (just like her Daddy) when she's frustrated or working something out.
• Also like her Daddy, she Michael Jordans her tongue when she's trying hard to do something, like pulling herself up.
• She also began "talking" in the last month, not words, but really purposeful noises, usually when she's trying to get attention.
• Finally, when set on an incline against my knees, Lucanne has begun to start to push herself up with her legs.

This gets you caught up on Lucanne in the first several weeks of her life and brings us to the astonishing developments of the last week...

Mimicry - last Friday, I was holding our daughter on my lap so she could work on pushing with her legs. This activity always gets her very engaged and usually smiling. It also is a source of relief to her when she's got gas, as the bending of her legs usually helps her pass the gas. So we were doing her "squats" and she extended her legs all the way and she just stopped and stared at me, very intently. I was stuck for what to do so I stuck my tongue out at her, she did the same. I was skeptical that this was a coincidence and I did it again, nothing. Now more convinced the first time was a coincidence, I did it a third time; Lucanne stuck her tongue out again. Now, my skepticism waning, I kept sticking my tongue out, and most times Lucanne mimicked me. My last fleeting wedge of skepticism vanished when I rolled my tongue and Lucanne spent 5 minutes trying to do it. (For those of you interested in the genetically inherited trait of tongue-rolling, she did finally get it - sort of - but I could see that her tongue definitely does articulate that way, she just couldn't hold it there.)

Preference - Last Sunday, Karna was holding Lucanne in her lap and Lucanne was watching the TV. She's been doing that for about 3-4 weeks now, but we always thought it was a mindless attention grabber and not something she was thinking about. Lucanne is always attentive and rarely startled by loud noises when she's awake, the dogs, thunder, and noises like that don't faze her. In the car when she's fussy a heavy bass line, rap or trance music, generally is soothing to her. This particular evening we were watching "The Kingdom", a heavily violent political thriller type movie - lots of noise of bombs and gunfire. I paused the movie to talk to Karna about a particular scene and Lucanne WENT OFF!!! She was MAD!!! The timing was too coincidental for me to dismiss her fury as anything else, so I restarted the movie and she settled right down. I assumed it was the noise she was engaged by so I muted the TV - this didn't faze her, she kept watching. I paused it again (still muted) and again she WENT OFF!!! I changed the channel; she paused in her tantrum to see what was on the TV and immediately went back to her tantrum. It wasn't until we were back on the movie that she settled down and went back to watching. She wanted to watch THAT movie - I only can hope she still doesn't understand what she was seeing...we need to get "Baby Einstein" QUICKLY!!!

First Word - Since I recognized that Lucanne had a vocabulary of sounds, I began talking to her based on those sounds. The first night we had her home, I was holding her and she started getting fidgety and grunting, so I asked her, "Lucanne, are you hungry? Hungry?" Karna teased me that first time saying "Are you kidding, she's two-days-old? What do you expect?" But very quickly Karna realized what potential Lucanne has and started doing the same thing. So since birth we've not baby-talked Lucanne, we just ask her about what's going on with her based on her sounds. We generally will repeat and focus on the key word to the situation: hungry, dirty, tired, etc.

For about the past three or four days Lucanne has been responding to those questions, especially "Are you hungry?” Four days ago when she got fidgety, Karna would ask her "Are you hungry?" and Lucanne would reply with "ugh-y". I was completely dismissive thinking that we were hearing what we wanted to hear and it was a coincidence. Two days ago when asked she added a letter to the word and said "ung-y". Again I was dismissive, I mean I know this child is exceptional, but a word at two-months old?!?!

Last night she said it three times, each time more fully developing the word. The first time was in the early evening. She got fussy and Karna asked her, "Are you hungry?” She replied with ung-y and then proceeded to fuss until she got fed. I was again dismissive. Later in the evening while Karna was changing her, Lucanne spontaneously added the "h" and said "hug-y". I didn't hear that one and was equally dismissive. Finally it was late evening and Karna had just handed me Lucanne after a fresh diaper and a change into her night gown and she got really agitated and fussy. I was trying to hold her on my lap so she could do her leg pushing and she started to get really agitated, so I asked her, "Lucanne! What is going on with you?!?" and she replied "Hung-y!" clear as day. I couldn't be dismissive, but I was skeptical, she had just fed 30 minutes prior. So I handed her to Karna, she SMILED, and latched on for a long feeding.

So there you have it, not only did our daughter say her first word, but she knows what it means and uses it correctly. I am astounded and will be telling anyone who will listen this story for days at least!!

When I put it all in perspective the reality of this little girl’s ability just floors me. Today she is 8-weeks-old and we already are going to have to watch what we say, watch what have on the TV, and figure out what we need to be doing to stimulate her well. I have a feeling that by the time she's two-years-old, Lucanne will be asking questions Karna and I won't have answers to...we are in deep s#!t...and I love it!! And I love our family!!

With much love to all,
Ty

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!!!

38 Weeks

As things are starting to wind down into the final weeks the news just keeps getting better and better!

Yesterday we had our final visit to the specialists and got to see Lucanne for the final time in ultrasound. The sonographer was able to point out that Lucanne currently has a full head of hair and it is actually quite long at this time. This comes as some surprise to me since my own hair was so fine and light that you couldn't really see it at all until I was 2!!! Lucanne was measured and while this is the first time she didn't meet the average sizing for her "age" she still weighed in at 6lbs 8 ozs!! The doctor figures that she could easily be a 7 1/2 pounder by birth if she keeps growing the way she is now. This pretty amazing seeing how things started for us and how just a few months ago the fear of losing her or having her prematurely was a high probability. The fluids went up this time to over 11cm and that seemed to surprise everyone since it should actually be going down now, not up, but we'll take it.

We also had our weekly visit to the OB yesterday and he is now thinking that she is staying put; he even joked that she may not come until August now. He tries, but he really isn't funny at all!!! We have no signs of dilation still so I still predict she will be a week late and I am perfectly happy to have her come whenever she is ready!!

Work is progressing on getting the house ready for a baby, but I know that I will not be done on time, no matter how many hands I have helping me out. I have resigned myself to not having the nursery painted and seeing as how the crib and baby furniture isn't even expected for another 5-7 weeks I am OK with it all. Still, on many days I have to remind myself that it isn't as important to have it all done before she comes because she won't care what her space looks like for a long while!

Meanwhile, I am glad to say that it seems like Winter has finally left us...at least this week! While we had around 8 inches of snow just last Wednesday, this weekend it warmed up enough to feel like Summer is barreling its way full speed towards us. We are expecting rain this week and over the holiday weekend, so maybe we will see something that resembles Spring yet...only time will tell. I have to admit that even though my body doesn't care much for the heat, I am definitely glad to be rid of the white stuff this year! Being on bed rest and having nothing much better to do than watch the snow fall can be as depressing as Seattle in the grayest of times. :~D (Still, I'm glad I will not to have to go through the worst of the summer heat pregnant and without air conditioning, that is for sure!)

Oh, and if the Penguins sweep Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals Lucanne may end up with the middle name Sidney (after "Super Sidney Crosby" for those of you who don't follow the game)!! GO PENS!!

37 Weeks

This week we had just one appointment and that was just to check our status. We still have no dilation and very, very little effacement, but that Lucanne's head has moved down just a little further into place. The OB thinks now it may take a few weeks to get there, but he warned that it could happen very suddenly and not take any time at all. The excitement is mounting!! As is my need to nest!

Week 36...almost there!

We are officially at 36 weeks and getting excited now! Yesterday we had our double duty appointments and everything is going along just great!

First, we went to the regular doctor who has finally decided that the non-stress tests will not show us anything useful and has agreed to stop putting me into the torture chair weekly. I still need to get a photo of the chair to show you all what I am talking about when I whine about a 30 year old device that is designed to make mom so uncomfortable that she might just forget her daily pregnancy woes to the backache caused by sitting in this device! We had a basic exam which showed exactly what I expected...this baby isn't ready yet and isn't isn't going to be forced into the world any sooner than she wants to come! The baby hasn't "dropped" yet and I am not dilated or effaced in any way. She is still an active little bugger and even kicked the doctor when he was trying to push her into a position he wanted her in to listen to her heart rate. (That's MY girl!) She also had the hiccups...something that happens now 3-4 times a day...while he was listening, which made him laugh. So while we are still going to have weekly appointments with the doctor she is taking her time and enjoying life right where she is...much to the doctor's chagrin, I suspect!

Next, we headed over to the hospital for our bi-weekly sonogram. The sonographer was one we hadn't seen before and didn't care much for. I'm sure some of you have heard about the newest trend in ultrasounds, the 3D picture. It is supposed to let you see what your baby is going to look like and has a fairly high rate of accuracy in visuals. If you want to know what her face is going to look like you can use this technology to get a good idea. Well, we knew from talking with our normal sonographer that you cannot see a thing with this technology if you don't have a lot of fluids in front of the baby's face or if you have an anterior placenta. Our sonographer, without asking us if we were interested in this and in a huge waste of our insurance company's money, just plops us into 3D mode and tries to look at the baby's face. Well, we knew it wouldn't work, but we still ended up with a picture of a sepia toned blob that we were told we could use our imaginations to see the features!! What a waste of time, I only hope we don't get billed for the wasted resource because those can run anywhere up to $5,000!! So the specialist finally shows up and it turns out not to be the one we usually see...I had no idea there were 11 doctors in their practice that we could see at any give time regardless of who we schedule with! This one I liked well enough, despite the annoying habit she had of talking so quietly that no one around her could hear what she was saying! This gal actually took the time to read our charts in front of us from cover to cover (like a good doctor should) before sitting down to look at the baby. I cannot tell you the surprise she gave us when she read a note from the other doctor saying we were supposed to get an amniocentesis and possibly have an induction of labor next week!!! WOW! Talk about your shockers! Here our doctor just two weeks ago said she didn't agree with the talk of induction because of how well Lucanne was doing, but then apparently notates that we should have an amnio and induction without ever discussing either with us?! Again, I say WOW! Not only was this not discussed with us, but we never would agree to doing an amnio unless there were some reason for it and we had no indication that one was ever intended, let alone needed. This really makes enforces my theory that these doctors up here are only interested in forcing a birth so they get their way and don't have to do any unscheduled births. I don't care if I have to give birth in the car on the way to the hospital, I am not letting any doctor take unnecessary medical action to make it easier on them and to get to charge 20-30% more in the process! So finally the doc sits down and looks at the baby. She says we are normal in every way (except the fluids, of course) then spends a good 15 minutes looking at various Dopplers. Yes, that is Dopplers, as in what you hear on the evening weather reports. The Doppler in a sonogram allows the doctor to see and hear the pulsing of the blood through the arteries and flow back through the veins. We got to not only experience the Dopplers within our girl, but also in the umbilical cord back out to me! Pretty cool, and yes, on the sonogram it looks just like the red and blue weather Dopplers on the news! Again, everything is going well and all news seems to be good news with this kiddo.

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone again for their love and support. We could not have made it easily through these 4+ months and we are so grateful that every one of you is a part of our lives. I'd also like to again thank Uncle Kevin & Aunt Kim for their gracious lending of the cradle, "Nonnie" Kelly for the Dragonfly crib bedding and a great BIG thank you to Aunt Lane for the recently received remaining coordinating Dragonfly items. I have already loaded the diaper stacker with newborn diapers in anticipation of Lucanne's imminent arrival and I look forward to actually getting the nursery put together soon. Now that bed rest restrictions are a little lighter I am working my way back to sanity by cleaning and nesting as much as I can take. A couple of hours a day is about all I can take at a time, but boy do I feel accomplished by the end of that day! I am hoping to start painting with eco-friendly, stink free paint in the next few weeks.

I'd like to do a friends and family pool of when Lucanne will arrive. I've personally think she will arrive June 7th...what is your guess?