Luke at 2-6 Months

The past 6 months have been quite a wild ride, but Luke is the best baby. He is always content and happy and so sweet! Here are some things about Luke:

• He loves laying on the floor. Like if someone holds him too long, he gets way happy about being set down to lay and stretch out
• He is very jumpy. Everything startles him, and most of the time he starts bawling
• He's ticklish all over
• He is a frequent eater. He prefers to eat every couple of hours for 5-10 minutes instead of stretching it to every 3-4 hours and having a bigger meal. Likes to just snack all day. 
• Luke is my biggest baby. At his 4 month check up he was 20 pounds.
• His nicknames are Chubbs, Chubbers, Chunk, Big-a-boy, Lukey, Lukers
• Luke went to 5 sessions of physical therapy and graduated just before turning 5 months old. 

January-April 2021

JANUARY started off with a kidney stone. I began feeling kidney pains the week of Christmas and Christmas afternoon and evening, I was hurting pretty good. I've had kidney pains before so I knew what it was, but I had never passed any stones. But a few days into the year, out popped a stone. I was surprised at the size. I'd say it was about the size of a kernel of of corn. About a month later, I felt pains when going to the bathroom again so I figured I had another stone coming, but it ended up being a UTI due to me being B Strep Positive during pregnancy. So after some antibiotics, that felt so much better. Besides this, my pregnancy was so good though. Other than that excitement, January was just adjusting to life with a puppy (which was a big, emotional adjustment for me. It still is several months later), and enjoying the last couple months with 2 crazy kids.

FEBRUARY, I was very hopeful baby boy would come early in this month. So I spent that month doing all the end of pregnancy stuff. Taking progress pictures of my bump, movies and popcorn nights with my family, and just getting ready for the baby to come.

MARCH was the big month. I shared all about Luke's birth story in a separate post here, but it was a fast, but long month at the same time and so much happened in that month, which I shared some of that stuff in this post here. So besides all of the new baby stuff that went on this month, Ashton also started baseball. He's always loved baseball and loves batting and is so good at it. He did great and it was fun to watch him!

APRIL we went to Red Cliffs like we do every April, and we also enjoyed Easter as a new family of 5. We finally started up second hour of church again so Hallie got to go to Sunbeams in Primary. I love that I am also in Primary so I can see them do all the big kid stuff! Besides that, we were just living the adjustment survival mode life with a newborn, but it's also the best. I love having sweet moments and memories with my people, even if it's just getting out of the house and going for a walk.

Luke's Wild First Month of Life

MONTH ONE has been a rollercoaster, as the first month always is with a newborn, but Luke has thrown us with a few extra bumps and turns. About 3-4 days after Luke was born he began to develop a diaper rash. Well I tried Desitin, Triple Paste, a ton of pink swizzle, and other bum rash pastes and ointments, it just kept getting worse. It was so bad that the skin was ripping off and bleeding. I was changing his diaper constantly to try and keep a dry diaper on him and would air his bum out between changes, put him in the tub, spray his bum to clean it instead of using wipes, along with all the ointments. I even had my BIL prescribe me Nystatin. Nothing. We had to go to the pediatric unit at the hospital (that story is next) and the doctor who did Luke's circumcision was there and we asked her to take a look. Well immediately, she knew it was an acid rash due to dairy. So I went off dairy. For the first week or two of trying no dairy, it was overwhelmingly hard. Nearly everything has dairy in it so it was difficult to find what I could eat. Well after a couple weeks of that struggle, his rash began to fade and I was being as minimal as I could on the dairy. Now, he is almost 5 months and it's tremendously better. I try to keep the dairy intake down, but I will indulge in a couple slices of pizza and things like that sometimes. Some days I pay for it though when I have a few bites of ice cream. His bum doesn't flare up so bad anymore, but it does bother Luke's stomach I think, as he will have screaming fits. Only sometimes though. I guess with this type of dairy allergy, usually the baby grows out of it the older they get. So my hope is he keeps getting better and will eventually not have the allergy. 

Next story. When Luke turned 2 weeks old, his head was turned to the right and I looked at the left side of his neck and noticed he had a hard lump about the size of a grape. It honestly appeared very suddenly. He went to the doctor for his 2 week check up on Wednesday, March 24 and I noticed it Friday the 26th. Well after a weekend of anxiety, I couldn't wait anymore and I knew I was going to be seeing Dr. Astle (my OB who delivered Luke) at church Sunday so I asked him and he said definitely get it looked at. So Monday the 29th we got it looked at and then went and got an Ultrasound on it, hoping for it to be some cyst or swollen lymph node. It wasn't. Tuesday morning, Luke's doctor called and sent us to get an MRI and bloodwork done. That afternoon we went to the hospital to get an MRI done on my sweet 2 week old baby. I didn't know what to think. Chase was calm and collected about it, but I was so anxious. All of our family was messaging us and sending prayers our way. We went up to the MRI waiting room where I changed into a gown to go in and Chase sat in the waiting room. We tried to time it so Luke would be hungry and tired (so he didn't have to be put under anesthesia). So I fed him right before we went in and I tried to get him to doze to sleep. It took some time to get his head all strapped in correctly and he was kind of fussy and crying for that part, but by some miracle, he calmed down and fell asleep. It took about 45 minutes and I stood there next to the MRI machine holding onto Luke's leg and praying my heart out that he would be ok and that he would also sleep and hold still so the MRI reading could be a success. He woke up the last 3-5 minutes though and began to cry, trying to move. It finished though and the Radiologist said the last little bit didn't get read because he was moving too much, but he said they got what they needed to look at. After the MRI, we headed down to get bloodwork. We said we wanted someone from the pediatric unit to come draw his blood since they know how to work with babies more, but they said we needed an appointment with peds and assured us they could do it. Well after multiple pokes and trying both arms, they failed. But while we were there, the doctor called with the results of the MRI. He had a benign tumor called a Fibromatosis Coli, and needed to go to physical therapy because the mass was going to cause torticollis. And then they said the mass would slowly start to go away after 6-12 months. We got in the car and I broke down. I was so grateful that the tumor was benign. The following day, we tried to do the blood draw again and they failed again after multiple pokes in both arms. I was so frustrated about it. Finally I said I'm doing it with the pediatric nurses. So a couple days later, we went in to draw the blood (where we also got the dairy diaper rash news) and the nurse got it first try, so I learned my lesson to go to the pediatric nurses like I wanted in the first place. The bloodwork came back normal, so we knew there were no other seen scares with the mass.

Luke's first month of life was a pretty wild ride, but through all these bumps, he was still a perfect baby. The rash didn't even seem to phase him and he was a trooper through all the poking and prodding and testing. He was just an angel, and I was so grateful that he was such a good baby through these struggles he was having. 

The day I noticed the lump

What the lump looked like

The sweetest boy being brave and holding onto my hand for dear life while he was getting those failed blood draws. Him clinging to me melted my heart.

A tired boy after the wild week full doctor appointments, an ultrasound, MRI, and multiple blood draws.

Luke’s Birth Story

Let’s take it back to my last 5 weeks of pregnancy. At 37 weeks I went to get checked for the first time and was at a 1, then at 38 and 39 weeks I was still at a 1 and 30% effaced. A day before my due date I went in again and was at a 2 and 40% effaced and he stripped my membranes. Because I wasn’t very effaced he didn’t want to rush anything and cause a C section so we decided to keep waiting and schedule one more appointment at 40 weeks and 6 days. Well to my surprise and frustration, baby brother did not want to come out so we went to that appointment and I was a 3 and 60% effaced. He did say he felt like I was effaced enough and my cervix was forward enough that inducing would be ok so I got my covid test and scheduled for the following morning. Finally the end was in sight with the baby coming at exactly 41 weeks. We had dinner and played matching game and guess who with Ashton and Hallie before taking them over to my mom’s house to sleepover.

Friday, March 12, 2021 (1 day shy of a year from the time I began to bleed and miscarry with my baby in 2020, I just find this to be a strange coincidence): Chase and I got up at 6am and began to get ready. When at about 6:50 they called (right as chase was about to get in the shower) and said they have an emergency c section so to come at 8:30. So I made chase eggs and bacon and toast, and turned on Happy Gilmore. When 20 minutes later at 7:12 about, they called and said we could come in. So we got ready and got to the hospital at 8am. I got checked in and got in my gown and they started my penicillin and broke my water at 8:30, started pitocin at 9:30 and gave me my epidural at 10 and catheter in at 10:30, but was still just about a 3 when she checked me.

I felt pretty good, no nausea laying on my back or pain for the first hour after getting the epidural. Then started to feel mild pain down low by my left ovary every couple minutes, so I could definitely tell I was having contractions quite often. At 11:30 the nurse came and checked me. I was at a 4 and my cervix was more forward and softer, so there was definitely progress. Maybe not a ton with dilation but still progress. At 12:30, Dr Astle came to check me and said I was at a 5. I rested and slept for an hour until my nurse came to check at 1:30 where I was at a 6+/7. I felt no pain for 2+ hours until around 1:30, I could feel that same pain down low by my left ovary area. It started to grow over time and then around 2 I began to feel pushing pressure with my contractions instead of that ovary pain so things began to pick up a little more since that began. I was at a 9+ when she came to check me at 2:25 and called Astle after that. I was amazed how good I felt though. I had never had an epidural work that well, so it was a great experience. Astle came in several minutes later and I began to push at about 2:38. He was born at 2:43pm, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long! It was a very quick delivery being just about 5 minutes, but within those 5 minutes, he got stuck at the shoulders and wasn’t getting oxygen so they got aggressive and the nurse was pushing on my stomach while I was pushing while Astle was pulling. He had to pull under his right shoulder and got him out, but they needed to make sure he was breathing ok so Chase didn’t even get to cut the umbilical cord and they didn’t put him on my belly right away. I didn’t realize it was much of a scare until several minutes later, but he started breathing and crying and was perfectly healthy. As for the pulling under his shoulder, called shoulder distocia, that can cause a broken collar bone and arm mobility issues. So the peds doctor checked and didn’t find any sign of problems, but just said to keep an eye out for less mobility. While they cared for baby brother, I was worked on. I had a retained placenta which means it was stuck to the uterus and wouldn’t come out so Astle had to stick his arm up to pull it out and pull out the sticky membranes so no infection occurred. It took 20-30 minutes to get myself all cleaned up and then I finally got to hold my baby!

After some time we went up to our room and baby brother had to start doing blood sugar tests, 3 every 2-3 and the last 2 every 6 hours because of his weight (I guess bigger babies don’t have good sugar for a few days) so we started that and got a good number (above 40) then the next dropped to 39 so we had to start over. The numbers went 73, 39, 57, 70, 53, 45, 67. So after getting 5 in a row of number over 40 we were in the clear to go home the following day. Hooray for just staying 1 night at the hospital! 

Hospital stays aren’t all that glamorous and fun. You’re stuck in this uncomfortable room and bed, you’re in pain and are figuring out your new baby.

I let chase go home to sleep so he could be more rested and helpful. I knew if he slept at the hospital he’d get no sleep. Before he went home though that night we talked names narrowing it down to Wyatt Chase or Luke Daniel, then we got Olive Garden and ate dinner together. With Ashton and Hallie, the nurses would take him to the nursery for the night and just bring baby in to eat, but it’s encouraged to keep your baby in your room now so I did. He wanted to eat too much until midnight then he slept until just after midnight to 5am when I forced him to wake up and eat, and we basically never went back to sleep. I had French toast, sausage and a parfait that morning until chase came back around 9am. That day was discharge day so we had a bunch of things to do. Watch the videos, all the tests for baby, the nurse gave him a bath, and we circumcised him. Getting the circumcision done in the hospital was great! With Ashton we did it at 2 week appt and I loved just getting it done and over with this time. 

Now for the name. We had a hard time this pregnancy with names. Partly because when we would talk about it, Chase and Ashton would suggest names like Chisum, Roper, and Ruger. Which of course was not gonna happen. I just kept thinking we’d figure it out when he came so I didn’t really worry about it. Although I did have some names in mind. Chase liked Stetson, William and Paden and we both liked Wyatt. I really thought that was gonna be it most of my pregnancy. Maybe a month or so prior to having baby brother, I’m not even sure how it popped up but I started to think of the name Luke, but I didn’t want to consider it because of Brett’s son, Luke. I didn’t want a name that was already taken by a cousin. But for some reason, I slowly started to justify it because of the 20 year age gap and different last names. I mentioned it to Chase when we were talking names with his family one day. He later he didn’t know I liked that and said is this the name that sneaks up on us? With Ashton and Hallie, they were both names we never planned on until I was pregnant with them, then somehow the names just popped up. I thought it was going to be Wyatt because that is another name that didn’t come up until I was pregnant and I didn’t think chase loved Luke. But again I didn’t worry because I knew we’d decide once he was here. Well in the hospital we didn’t decide until 2 hours before we went home. After weeding out the names William, Stetson, Grayson, and Paden, we were down to Luke and Wyatt. We had about a 30-45 minute window before more tests were to be done. So chase came and sat down by me and said do I have a name in mind and I said yes (thinking Wyatt) and he said a prayer. After he picked up the baby and put him on my lap and we both just quietly thought. Chase for emotional and asked if I know. I said I was afraid to say first cause I wasn’t sure, but when I said Wyatt, Chase said that’s what he wanted. But that’s not the answer he got. I was surprised. He told me he has had some impressions over the last couple weeks that it would be Luke, but didn’t want it to be Luke so he put it off and just didn’t want to decide. But he knew now and let it go. I’m constantly amazed and jealous of his ability to have these types of impressions and be able to feel the spirit like he does. So we decided Luke Daniel Robinson. Some of the best moments in my life have been the moments chase and I take to decide a name for our babies! 

We were discharged and able to go home a little after 2pm on 3/13. We got home and had lunch then chase went to pick up the kids to meet their new baby brother and tell them his name. We’ve had many debates over his name over the course of my pregnancy. Hallie would usually say every name we suggested was a weird name, Ashton wanted Chisum, Ruger or Roper. So when we told them his name was Luke, Hallie was happy but Ashton wasn’t. He was mad and wouldn’t even call him Luke for the first couple hours until he finally just came out and said, “mom, I’m ok if his name is Luke.” 

Anyway, long story, but we love this baby boy. We are so glad he’s finally here after a long year of trying to get him here! 

Pregnancy picture at 40 weeks and 4 days. Luke was born 3 days later.

2020

What a year! We started off the year on a high! Chase and I celebrated being married 6 years, and I got pregnant in January and was so excited to add to this crazy little family of mine!

In February, Chase and I had a fun Valentines Date with friends.

In March, Chase and I went to Nashville, TN with Chase's parents for a quick 2 night stay. It was so fun though going to a bunch of country music museums, walking down Honky Tonk Row, going to the Ryman to see the Oakridge Boys and other country singers, riding scooters, and eating lots of good food! This trip kind of turned into a wild one as about a week before, a tornado hit in Nashville and received more tornado warnings while we were there that Thursday, March 12. That same day, the whole country was informed that a lockdown was going to begin the following day, Friday, March 13 because of coronavirus. We travelled home Friday and the world as well as my own, private world came crashing down. What was supposed to be a 2 week lockdown (no church, school, work from home, only essential businesses were open like grocery stores and everything was out of stock), turned into a month, then 2 months, then 3 months. That same Friday lockdowns began, I began to bleed. This lead to the longest 3 weeks of ups and downs. I shared the experience in my leather journal, but I ended up miscarrying the baby on April 6.

In April we celebrated Easter. Then in May we went to Red Cliffs with the Robinsons and Lake Powell with the Boyces where Ashton surfed for his first time, and although he didn't love it, I was so proud! 

June, July and August was eventful as summer usually is. In June, after my miscarriage in April, I got pregnant and kept it extremely quiet until I was 13/14 weeks along. Also in June, Jill came to visit for a week when she was 32 weeks pregnant with Josie and after being in pain for the whole week, she finally went to the hospital to discover she had HELLP Syndrome and went into an emergency C Section that day on June 20 and had her baby over 7 weeks early. After almost a month in the NICU, Josie came home and Hallie met her first girl cousin on the Boyce side! July was fun with the 4th of July at the Lake and fireworks, then the 24th and Chase's birthday at the cabin hiking, riding horses, and fishing! Then in August, Chase and I went surfing with friends, Natalie and Rhett got sealed in the temple and I made her cake, Ashton turned 5 and started his last year of preschool and started his first year of flag football with Chase as his coach!

In September, I announced I was pregnant with a boy! We told Chase's parents just at their house and then my family at Lake Powell. Everyone was shocked and so excited! Also at Lake Powell, Hallie kneeboarded for the first time and wasn't even scared! Then, I got the rare chance to leave Chase with the kids for a weekend and went to my good friend's wedding! Chase, of course, took the kids to Beaver for the weekend.

Chase's Grandpa Gentry passed away in October, and after some coronavirus drama with Michon getting the virus, we celebrated him. Then Chase killed an Elk over the Spike Hunt, then we took the kids camping at the Deer Camp! And then, of course, we went trick-or-treating with Benny 'The Jet' Rodriguez and Elsa.

November came and Hallie turned big 3 years old! We also got the kids bunkbeds and they love them! Then we had Thanksgiving with the Boyce side and went and got our Christmas Tree in Beaver!

For Christmas this year, a week early, we had a Boyce Christmas Party. We took them to all ride horses (some for their first time), decorated gingerbread candy trains, opened a few gifts and played games. For Christmas weekend, we were with Chase's family. This Christmas turned into a crazy one. All month long, Ashton begged and begged... and begged for a dog for Christmas. When I would say no (like I've said no for 5 years), he would tell me he will just ask Santa then since I won't listen and Santa listens. After a LOT of discussing, Chase and I decided to do it. So we surprised them with Gunner Christmas morning. 

2020 was a weird year. Coronavirus took over and the world and the country went downhill fast. Joe Biden became president... Don't get me started on Politics. I've never cared about Politics until this year. Now it fires me up when I talk about it. I'm just extremely grateful to live in Southern Utah where the majority of the state still believes in Freedom and also don't fear the coronavirus. I lost a baby for the first time and learned how devastating that really is, then I got pregnant with a baby boy as well. Lots of memories, good and bad, and lots of lessons learned.