Meet Luke Isaac Robbins!

Born 7/28/12 at 6:28 am

9lbs 9oz & 21 inches

I’ve been so excited to get to write this post!  We thought little Luke was going to join us early, according to my doctor and how I was progressing, so we rushed back from Louisville to Cincinnati to be ready for delivery any day.  Well, we waited and waited, and every day, he didn’t come.  Even though I was still early, I was starting to feel anxious for his arrival, thinking that surely I wouldn’t make it to the due date!  But low and behold, on 7/27, the due date, I saw my doctor for a normal office visit and still no baby.  But we got surprising news at the appointment: my blood pressure had jumped sky high.  So, because it was my due date and I was prone to pregnancy induced hyper-tension (had it with Emma too) which could turn into pre-eclampsia, my doctor did not want me to mess around, so we scheduled the induction for that evening at 4:00.  I was actually disappointed because after having been induced for the first two, I did not want to be induced again. My labors were long and did not progress well with both Seth and Emma, and I feared it would be the same way.  But, my doctor insisted that this was the best thing to do and of course I wanted to do what was healthiest for me and the baby.  It eased my mind knowing that this induction was not considered elective, whereas the other two were (even though they were both strongly encouraged by the doctor for various factors like the size of the baby and high blood pressure).

So we got to the hospital at 4:00, but did not start pitocin until 5:30.  Since they eased up the dosage gradually, I did not experience hard, consistent, painful labor until around 11:45 or so.  So the evening was pretty relaxing, just waiting for things to get moving so we could meet our son!  By 1:00 am I was ready for the drugs and by 1:15, the epidural was in! That was definitely the fastest turnaround time I had in a birth with the time between asking for the epidural and having it in and working was only 15 minutes!  I could have kissed the anesthesiologist.

So with the epidural in and labor progressing, Matthew and I were able to get some rest, although I couldn’t sleep because I felt like a kid on Christmas – so excited to meet our baby boy! But just being able to lay there peacefully was all I really needed.  By 3:00 am, my water broke (finally, something my body did naturally on it’s own for labor!  That had to be broken by the doctor for the previous two births), and by 5:45, I was fully dilated and ready to go.  Once the doctor got there, I pushed for 2 contractions, and he was born at 6:28am!

Even though I was disappointed about being induced again, this labor turned out to be the easiest of all three, which is surprising, because I birthed a 2 month old, weighing in at 9lbs 9oz and 21 inches long!  I could NOT believe his size when they told me – he didn’t even look that big!  And the crazy thing was, I felt more comfortable at the end of my pregnancy with Luke than I did with Seth, who weighed 7lbs 8 oz and Emma, who was 7lbs 4oz. What a crazy turn of events 🙂 And for those of you who are wondering, he looks exactly like Seth did when he was born, just a little heavier.  I feel like I’m taking care of Seth 2.0!

So now we are back in Louisville and adjusting to life as a family of 5!  Seth and Emma Jo could not be more in love with Luke, which is a huge blessing because I didn’t know how they’d react to this extra person invading their space.  But so far things are going well.  Just have to learn how to live out our new normal!  Thanks to those who have helped us, supported us, and prayed for us during these big transitions in our lives!  Your prayers were definitely felt and all the help has been so greatly appreciated!  Now, let’s start living! 🙂