Robbins Family Update

I'm home ... but without my husband or our Liam :( Bill stayed at the hospital tonight so I could come home and be with David. Liam is doing MUCH BETTER!! PRAISES TO JESUS!! He is keeping his blood sugar up and eating a bunch! He was on 10 units/hour of glucose and is down to 7. Once he gets off the IV, he'll need to be stable for 12-18 hours and then he can come home!! Hopefully by the middle/end of the week. Oh... and Grandma Joy and Dandad come in tomorrow!

David and Grandma have been staying at our house for the past few nights. David does GREAT at their house, but after 2 nights, he was ready to be home. We played tonight and he took a bath. When I sang him his goodnight song, he looked up at me and smiled before putting his head on my shoulder. I missed him a lot and really felt I needed to come home to him tonight. Here he is this morning when Grandma went in to get him!

Liam and I had some 'skin to skin' time this afternoon. His nurse brought over a recliner for me to sit in and have him lay on my chest in between feedings. This is done mostly for premies, but it's good bonding for all kids. Bill really felt he needed to stay with Liam tonight and do his feedings.

I am so thankful for a husband who is a wonderful daddy to our two boys.

Thank you for your prayers!

Big Brother

David spent today with Grandma, Papa, and Auntie Alice.

They played at home,

went to Costco and

then came to visit us at the hospital.

Due to the swine flu, no one under the age of 18 is allowed in the hospital.

So Bill and I came down to the lobby to play with him.

He was SO EXCITED to see us and, of course,

I cried a little when he came running up to us to give us hugs and kisses!

We played for about an hour and then they left to get lunch and

put David down for a nap while we fed and cuddled with Liam.

Tonight, they all went to the Christmas Eve service at their church and

David was able to play in his classroom

(the same one he goes to for the Mom's group we are in!).

He is asleep now after a fun bath and dinner!

Thank you Grandma, Papa, and Auntie Alice for taking care of the

BIG BROTHER

so we can care for the

LITTLE BROTHER

Liam is doing very well. He's still in the NICU because he's not eating much yet. His oxygen levels are great and his blood sugar is staying up. Now we just need to get him to eat more and we will be able to take him home! Thank you for your prayers!

It's a BOY!

Introducing...

William (Liam) Dan Robbins

7 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long.

He was having trouble with his blood sugar, so he is currently in the NICU. At his 10 PM check, his blood sugar had gone up:

We are now praying it stays up so he can join us in our room again soon.

We just went in again at 1 AM and Liam's blood sugar is doing great!

There is another minor set back, though. He is breathing just fine on his own, but his blood/oxygen level is low. After taking a chest x-ray, it was discovered that there are little holes in the 'balloons' that surround his lungs (I'm sure I'm not explaining this right, but it's close!). This probably happened when he took his first big breath. It will heal on it's own, but in the mean time, he was on oxygen through his little nose and is now in an oxygen 'hood' for 4 hours. We will go back in around 4:30 or 5 to feed him and check on how he is doing.

We will keep you posted! Thank you again for your prayers!

David spent the day with Grandma and is sleeping at Grandma and Papa's house tonight. Unfortunately, he is not allowed in the hospital at all. We are hoping tomorrow he can come down here and we can meet up with him in the lobby and at least be able to see him and hug him. He'll have to wait until we get home to meet his little brother!

We are very excited to have brothers so close in age

and pray they will be best friends as they grow up!

So sorry this is a mismash of information. I pieced together a few emails to give this update. Besides, I've been up since 6:30 this morning and it's now 1AM! Oh, and I went through labor!

Bed time for us!

Love,

Bill, Donna, David and Liam

Here and There

There is no rhyme or reason to these pictures,

other than they were all taken this month!

Just thought I'd share a little of our daily life.

Yes, it's daily that David sits on/in the dishwasher!

Yes, I see the butter knives.

And yes, when you ask him to smile,

this is what you will get!

Or this one...

This is a book from Grandma Joy and Dandad.

They brought it (and another one) with them on their trip in October.

They are David's two favorites and the only ones he reads!

Little People: Busy Town

and

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go!

A Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, our church blessed us with a baby shower!

We had a great time and enjoyed the company and

blessings of our friends there.

We played a few games.

This one is a stroller race!

Baby Update

We had our appointment yesterday and the baby and I are healthy and growing! YEAH!!

Last week we had an appointment with an NP. After talking with my doctor, it was decided that they would induce this week. Unfortunately, nothing was ever written in my chart AND no one ever called the Perinatologist (high risk doctor - for my heparin) to see what he thought.

Yesterday when we went in, the doctor actually called the Perinatologist to get the opinion of the expert! They decided I should be induced at 39 weeks instead. So when the doctor went to the hospital yesterday afternoon, he registered me to be induced next week.

So...if the baby doesn't come on his/her own in the next week, I will be induced on December 23rd at 8:30.

My last dose of heparin will be the evening on the 21st, so I will not take it at all the day before. This will help with bleeding and I'll be able to have an epidural (I bled a lot with David and wasn't able to have an epidural because my heparin level was too high).

So that's where we are. Kind of crazy to be able to plan an end date and not just wait around for contractions to start or my water to break!

The bummer for us is that we really wanted to avoid having a "Christmas" baby. We didn't want Christmas and birthday to get mixed in together every year. We'll just have to get creative and maybe do 1/2 birthdays every once in awhile!

I think that covers it!

Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Love,

Donna, Bill, David, and BROB 2.0

Eighteen Months Later

We recently had David's 18 month check up and our little bear is THRIVING! His doctor said we don't need to adjust for him being early because he is right on track in all areas. We are so thankful for a HEALTHY, GROWING boy who loves to giggle, give kisses and hugs, play wherever we go!

Early Thanksgiving (But Late Blog Post!)

A few weeks ago, David and I (Bill was at a youth conference) went to a good friend's house for an early Thanksgiving party with the group of kids and parents we hung out with this summer. This is the same family that had the early Halloween party!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL so the kiddos played outside most of the day. They have a big basketball court area, a sandbox and all kinds and sizes of bikes to ride.

David had a blast as this was the first time we've been there when he's been sure on his feet and we didn't have to follow him around!

(It looks worse than it was!)

I'll try to blog more often, but it might be more pictures than updates!

Regarding BROB 2.0 -

• At the ultrasound last week (33 weeks), the baby was estimated to be about 4 lbs 13 oz, so he/she is already bigger than David was at 35 weeks.

• I started having contractions pretty regularly on Friday, so I went to the doctor. They had me on the monitor for 20 minutes, during which time I had 4 contractions (which, of course, averages about every 6 minutes). The doctor (not my regular doctor, but he was great!) checked me out and I have dilated to 2 ... long way to go, but 2 weeks ago I hadn't dilated at all. The doctor could feel the baby's head (that was really weird to me!), but my water hadn't broken and there is still enough fluid around the baby.

• I passed the mucus plug last night (sorry if that's too much info for the men out there!), called the after hour's nurse and was told to hang tight until my water broke or I had regular, strong contractions 5 or less minutes apart. I didn't sleep real well last night: part nerves, part just uncomfortable!

Thankfully, Bill is home all week on Thanksgiving break!!

Discovering Dirt

A week ago, we had a HUGE pile of snow covering our rose bushes.

This is all that is left!

David went out to play yesterday afternoon and instead of running around our deck,

he ventured down the stairs and discovered the dirt and mud left behind from the snow!

Once I finally put the camera down,

I remembered he had toys that would be great in the mud!

At last he found his way through the rose bushes to the bucket in the back (it holds our Dish Network!) and was putting mud in the bucket!

After the adventure in the dirt, we headed right for the bath tub!

He had dirt all over his hands, in his shoes and in his mouth!

Too much to just wipe down!

In baby news: I am now 33 weeks pregnant and very ready to be done! The first 30 weeks went by fast, but time is CRAWLING now that the end is near! Looking at pictures from 18 months ago, I'm about as big now as I was with David right before he was born. Bill's not ready to hear that!

I go in for a growth scan ultra sound on Thursday to check the baby's progress. At 33 weeks pregnant with David, the doctor's discovered that he had slowed down on his growth. They were going to take him early, but he came on his own. My doctor just wants to make sure this little one is doing OK! We will know more on Thursday afternoon!

Our Little Firefighter... take 2

Last Friday night we (my parents, Bill's parents, and our family) went to Bill's parents' church (where we got married) for their annual "Family Fun Night"!

They had food for all and games for the kids.

David played a few games, but was more interested in running around!

So the grandparents tag-teamed watching him while Bill and I

talked with friends we hadn't seen in awhile.

When we got home, he shed the jacket and still had energy to burn...

Our always happy boy!

Fun Times with Grandma and Dandad

Grandma Joy and Dandad (Donna's parents) flew in last week to hang out with us! Dandad was able to come in a day early because of a big snow storm that hit the Denver area. We got about 18 inches of snow and Bill had 2 days off from work. Unfortunately, we didn't get any snow pictures because it was melting by the time we left the house after the storm! That's Colorado for you: 25 degrees and snowing one day, 50 degrees and melting the next!

Grandma and David had fun building train tracks

Their finished product

Dandad loved having David sit on his lap and read books!

Grandma and her 'sweetie bud'

Dandad and his lion

Bill and I went to the grocery store one afternoon and came home to this:

Dandad, Grandma Joy and David cuddled under a blanket watching 'Cars': David's favorite movie! He'll even stick out his tongue like Lightening McQueen if you ask him!

Fall Fun!

Fun with Grandma and Papa

On Thursdays, Bill's parents take David for the day to give me time to get things done around the house or, lately, to just rest! They love having him and it's so wonderful to have a day to do laundry without a stair climbing trying to keep up!

Sometimes they go to the mall to walk (or run) and play on the cars.

He's just now learning that they move and

somehow has learned where the money goes in!!

If the weather is nice,

they head to the park to play, swing, slide and climb.

No matter where they go,

there are always smiles from all sides!