Our Seventh Heaven

Whoa check this out - they're all looking & reasonably happy (except for our wonderful newest addition - Luke Joseph, but he's not unhappy and we can still see him).

And what, who's that?  Mom made it into a picture?!  Who has the camera?  Thanks, Daddy, for taking one for us.  Sure loving this crew!

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

What a day and what a wonderful surprise! We welcomed Anne Marie Robinson to the world and to our family today at 4:09pm. She was 8lb 0.3 oz, 19 1/2 inches long, and just as cute as can be. She really surprised us as we thought it was going to be a little boy. We are so happy to have her and think it is just wonderful that Leah will have a sister. The kids are all so excited and Leyton has said many times already that "I knew it was going to be a baby sister."

The delivery went smoothly and quickly again. In the morning we were at mass and then we went to Sweet Tomatoes as an early celebration of Uncle Robert's birthday. As we were there, I was feeling like maybe I wanted to go home & lie down for a while. Good thing I did - it wasn't long after that we decided maybe it was time to head to the hospital. We called in the support troops - Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan and Uncle Robert & Aunt Beth came over while Patrick & I headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:30pm or so, so it didn't take too long after that. When they checked me for the first time there, I was 6-7cm and the bag of waters was bulging. The contractions were getting stronger, but I also had some "uterine irritability" (not totally relaxing between contractions; they say brought on by doing too much or dehydration - can't imagine that would be the case in my life, ha.). Anyway, it wasn't long and my water broke and at that point I just knew it was going to be speedy. I felt it was time to push, doctor said okay, and one push and we met our little Anne. She is precious and the instantaneous family dynamic change had occurred and we already couldn't imagine life without her.

I do have pictures, just need to get some uploaded.

Baby Update

Well, I'm surprised I didn't note this before, but last Friday when I saw the doctor I was "a good 3-4cm". I was surprised! I was back there today and had the same status. I figured that's actually good as I think if I was further, I would think I should be in labor in a hospital versus carrying on with my every day stuff! So, we'll see. Dr. Snider said he's hoping for this weekend as he's on call and he's gone all next week. Time will tell. I don't feel it will be tonight, but I wouldn't mind whenever. The kids can hardly believe the time is here. I think they are thinking it will be a planned event, though. We're all excited.

Speaking of Baby...

Well, what a morning. All I can think of is that maybe it was God's way of telling me to take a break for a few days. We've been very busy and I have been carrying on full speed ahead. This morning, though, I got to spend a few hours at the hospital being monitored, getting extra ultrasound pics, etc. of the next little Robinson. This morning when I was laying in bed, delaying getting up, I had a significant amount of bleeding so of course started to freak out a bit. It turns out after nervousness, waiting, monitoring, and lying around at the hospital, it seems all is fine. They figured it must have been some sort of fluke. There was no sign of any problem and they really don't know what happened. In any event, I got nice instructions to settle down a bit for the next few days to make sure all is ok. I go back to the doctor next week, so we'll hope things just stay calm. On the brighter side, the day has gone well and I haven't had any signs of any other problems. And, the baby is measuring about 10 days ahead so that was interesting to know. It is estimated to be 3lb 14oz (which is larger than Leyton was when he was born). The due date they calculated is July 3, for whatever that is worth. Guess we'll see how things go! I'm relieved that it seems like things are ok.

And Last but not Least...

A baby-sized update. I was at the doctor this week and was able to thoroughly enjoy the wonderful taste of Glucola for my glucose tolerance test. I was shocked (as I have been before) to be at the end of my monthly visit period. As I'm just about 30 weeks, he's having me back in 3 weeks when I'll be around 32 and then onto twice monthly for a month, then weekly! It makes it seem close. Well, 10 weeks is not too long in my timeline these days anyway. I sometimes still can't believe it's happening. Sometimes in the evening after I finally sit to take a break from the day, the baby will start moving around a lot. It's then that I think, "Oh yeah, the kids are all in bed and this little one is saying, 'Mom, don't forget about me. I'm here, too.'" It is sometimes still hard to imagine how things will change again, for the better, this summer. Dr. Snider says I'm measuring a bit ahead, for whatever that is worth. I'm feeling well; no complaints.

It's a ...

Healthy growing baby! We had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound this afternoon and had a family field trip to the event. All was well. The boys enjoyed seeing the "baby pictures" and it was exciting seeing a new little face that we haven't met yet. The baby is measuring right on track - well, a week ahead on arm length & leg length, but overall averages at 2 days ahead of my due date. Sounds good to me. Someone mentioned to me today how being 20 weeks is a new way to look at things - time to start counting down until arrival! We were able to bring home some cute pictures of the little one, too. Always a bonus. I also enjoy the relief of knowing things are good since I really still am not wearing much maternity clothes. I did wear some to church yesterday, but that was about the first time so far this time around and I was still self-conscious of if I needed to and how it looked.

I really like my doctor and we usually have a good little chat when I'm there. He pretty much tells me to "stay boring" (he says I'm an easy patient that wouldn't complain even if I was miserable & he enjoys that I pretty much have things going normally). He grabbed the ultrasound report to check the gender (which we've never found out). Then he was like, "You don't want to know?" After a response, he said, "Good for you." Most of the conversation, though, was about the big basketball game tonight between KU & OU. He's a big fan & knows our household is, also. GO KU! Then as I was leaving, he said he was going back to see the ultrasound technician to see if she'd tell him what we were having. Time will tell!

From the Mouths of Babes

Recently I've been talking with the boys about the baby being in my belly. It prompts them to ask about when they were in my belly. Tonight I had my ultrasound pics out from when I was pregnant with them. Jacob was particularly interested and was so happy to be asking, "Is that me? In your belly?" He really did well considering those pics can really be hard to interpret - imagine for a three-year-old! Anyway, Nathaniel was also looking at the photo album we have of all of their pictures since we had so many. The cutest part was when I recapped with Jacob. I asked him, "Jacob, where is the new baby?" He said, "In your heart." A lot of truth to that - aren't all of a mother's children in her heart forever? I think so.

A New Round of Baby Names

Well, with all the excitement of expecting a new baby, the boys are really trying to be fair. They think it should be a girl since we only have one girl. How equal opportunity of them. Anyway, they've been coming up with some ideas for names. Here are some I've heard:
- Shimmer (great one, right! Ha, I think it's from Miss Spider's Sunny Patch in case you wonder)
- Lyda or Willa (these are Jim Cosgrove's daughters' names)
Enjoyable; in all actuality, it's nice to know they're very excited. 17 weeks already; we have the sonogram in about three weeks.