Marshall Samuel Robinson

He's here! Baby boy joined our family already close to two weeks ago and things are going well. Kind of a long post but I just wanted to record the details of his birth. :)

(taken just the day before.. He grew a ton in that last week!)

MARSHALL SAMUEL ROBINSON

Born December 3, 2013 9:03AM

8lb. 4oz. 20 inches long

Delivery was very different this time around, as he was in breech position for pretty much all of my third trimester. I tried everything I could to get the little guy to turn but he was just stubborn, I guess. So we decided to have a scheduled cesarean section just after 39 weeks. I wasn't terribly upset about having a c-section, mostly just nervous because I was venturing into the "unknown" again. I feel that's what is scariest about your first baby is that you've never experienced it before. Same sort of anxiety for this one because I knew it would be very different but everything turned out completely fine. Better than fine, I'd say. Baby boy is as perfect as can be and I am recovering really well. Can't expect things to be any better than that!

Birth story isn't much more than arriving at the hospital at 6:15am, only to have to wait around, get an IV, wait some more, meet the nurses/anesthetist, wait some more, then finally walk down to the room for surgery, get my spinal shot, take baby out, sew me up, and done! Haha.. I would say getting the spinal shot to numb my body was far more terrifying than the actual surgery itself. The epidural for Ivy was a fairly terrible ordeal (didn't ever mention details about this on the blog) so I wasn't excited for this part. There's just something scary about someone poking something into your spine (but don't get me wrong, I will probably always opt for an epidural than not, even though I find it so scary, haha). I did convince them to let Sam stay in the room and hold my hand while they did it which helped a TON. 

Then the team of nurses moved me around, put the sheet up, and just carried on random conversion in the room. The nurses and my doctor were all awesome at calming my nerves about everything and keeping the mood very light in the room. Sam of course, was also great about distracting me, as he could sense their light-heartedness.  He was able to stand up and watch the whole thing but was great about not asking questions or talking about what was happening, even though I could tell he was just itching to. haha! Oh med students... Just minutes after feeling some pressure and pulling, they started talking about having the baby out and how much dark hair he had! Then the nurse asked if I wanted to take a nap, giving me some pain meds, and I zoned out during the rest of the procedure. I "woke up" to someone telling me he weighed 8 lbs 4 oz! I loved that sound! Sam and I were both betting he'd be just over 8 lbs. I say "woke up" because they said I never really went to sleep, that I was talking the whole time. haha.. Apparently I said some pretty funny stuff and the next time someone asked about what his middle name was going to be (we hadn't decided between two names yet), the nurses said, "oh, we KNOW his middle name is supposed to be Samuel."I guess I said something to the affect of, when I'm mad at him in the future, I want to be able to yell Sam's name in there along with his name, haha! Hmm. 

Anyways, we had made arrangements for Ivy until my mom came into town the next day (thanks to some very awesome friends!) and it was just me and Sam in the hospital with little guy for most of the time. I had quite a few close friends come visit, which was so awesome! We felt so loved! It really was nice to just be with my amazing husband and new baby for most of the time, though. Sam would bring Ivy back every now and again for a short visit but she didn't quite know what to think of baby boy yet. 

And now for picture overload! I do think he looks similar to Ivy but not identical. He has his own cute little look for sure. And his personality is already sooo different than Ivy's. Crazy how early you can tell! We just love our sweet boy so much already!

Lots of dark hair! It's even thicker than Ivy's was:

Peek-a-boo:

Proud daddy, for sure! ;)

My good friend Leila came to visit one day and took these next few pics.. I just love them! Thanks so much, Leila:

My mom arrived into town the next day and was able to take over caring for Ivy until we got discharged, then two of my sisters were able to come for the weekend which was a great distraction while recovering and adjusting to our new life at home. More pics to come!

Thanksgiving and pre-baby happenings

This year, with it being so close to baby's arrival, we stayed in town and celebrated Thanksgiving with our "med school family." We had a pie night the night before at our good friends, the Stafford's home and then had a pot luck dinner the next afternoon there again. There were quite a few of us families around for the festivities and it was super fun to be with those we have grown to know pretty well and care about! Love our Tennessee med school family! 

Family pic, take one (when Ivy clearly was not wanting to have any part of the pic, lol) and take two, a little later on. She just cracks me up. I had to show her her 2-year-old-ness just shining through in that first pic, haha:

Blurry pic, but this is almost the whole group, minus one family and Sam/Ivy who were already in the car because Ivy was verrry ready for a nap, ha:

Just a few other pics from the couple weeks before baby boy made his debut.. Winter has hit us! Seemed fairly early, especially for having such a warm October but we have enjoyed it, so far. Already had a couple of snowfalls which is pretty fun. Just hoping it won't be as long of a winter as last year. 

Snook in one last date night to see Catching Fire with my honey over the break:

 

Aaand we decked the halls the day after Thanksgiving.. Ivy loves the tree and had a blast helping to put the ornaments on. Wanted to get our house all ready for December so we wouldn't have to worry about it after baby boy came:

Fall Voice Recital

As a final hoorah for the semester, I had a fall recital for my students so they could show how they've progressed these past few months to their family and friends..  Because of Thanksgiving, and then baby coming early December, we decided to have it in mid-November before everyone got busy. We held it in a local church that a few of my students go to this time around and it was the perfect venue! Many thanks to those who made this possible along with helping out with things that day. Everyone preformed wonderfully and I couldn't be more proud! The only one who batched many of the lines in their song was their dear teacher at the very end. Whoops! It was a pretty entertaining ending to a great recital.  

38 weeks

First pic, 36 weeks.. Second was just before 38 weeks. And now I'm almost 39 weeks! Time is just flying by. I know it doesn't look like there's much of a difference between the pics but I feel a big difference, haha. I think my belly just started to get wider instead of growing further out....

Overall feeling? Very ready. I had great energy up until the day after I was 37 weeks. The week of 36-37 was a craaaazy week with too much going on- plumbing issues in my house, Sam being at school/trying to study for a test, AND my students' voice recital was that Saturday (the day I was 37 wks), so I was preparing a lot for that.. It was stressful to say the least but we got a lot done and the recital went great (and Sam ended up doing amazing on his test, which was incredible given the circumstances, lol). I think after that, my body just shut down on me. I've felt much better this week, for the most part but that was a tough week.

Total weight gain? +26 (-ish), as of my last appointment which was last week. He's grown a ton in the past few days though so I'm sure it's more now. I'm just grateful it's not as much as with Ivy..

Cravings? Past few weeks I just have to have salty things, fried cheesesticks, fritos, nuts, etc. But I always am in need of something chocolaty each day as well, hehe.

Gender? Boy! It's been so much fun getting all his boy stuff and clothes ready. 

Baby movements? He's actually in breech position so his movements can be rather annoying sometimes, with his head pushing upwards quite a bit. Especially now that he's much bigger, lol..
Crazy weird things? Sam says I snore, haha.. Also, I've been thirsty alllll the time. For water, juice, chocolate milk, soda, you name it. Never feels like I can get enough. Makes for a lot of trips to the bathroom throughout the day but oh well. Oh and every now and again I feel super anxious, like my mind can't relax. I often wake up in the night because of the anxiousness (something that didn't happen with Ivy).. And for much of this pregnancy, I always had to be doing something, couldn't just sit an relax-- had to be cleaning, crafting, or painting my nails, anything! I just couldn't sit still.
Names? We like a completely different name than the one from a while back. And I think this one will stick... It's just funny how indecisive we both are. It was the same with Ivy. We didn't seriously consider her name until about 2 weeks before. And even then it was still down to two names until she was born, lol.. We'll see how things turn out! 

Sky to Summit 50K

Sam has been training to do a trail 50K (31 miles) for a couple months now and the Saturday after his birthday was the big day! He did the Georgia Sky to Summit trail race just 3 hours south of where we live.. I decided to opt out since his buddy Jason, who was also doing the race, was able to drive and there wouldn't be much for Ivy and I to do down there during his 7+ hour run. Anyways, start time was bright and early at 7am. Jason's friend Madison went with them to do the 8 mile run and was nice enough to take a few pics of them before and after the race. Sam caught some phone pics along the way. He said the incline was NOT easy but that the whole thing was a lot of fun. And beautiful. He finished in 7:16 which was just about his goal time of 7 hours! Woohoo! Way to go babe. (Jason came finished up a while later). So proud of my husband for setting tough goals and accomplishing them. It's definitely one of the qualities I love about him. :)

Pic of the town near the race, taken the night before:

Ready to run!

At the summit! 18 miles in, about halfway done:

 

 

DONE! My husband rocks!! Pretty incredible that he can run 31 miles in one day. So glad he has found a hobby that not only is great for his body, but that he loves and will probably continue to do for a long time. Maybe someday I will share his passion for long distance running... Maybe. Lol!

Sam's Birthday

Sam's 28th(!!) birthday was on November 5th, just a couple days after we got home from Alabama, and low and behold, he had caught the same stomach bug that Neal had while we were there. (Somehow, it skipped me and Ivy, thank goodness!) So that Monday, he was not feeling too hot at all. He wasn't feeling the greatest on his birthday the next day either but apparently, was well enough to head down to his favorite restaurant in Knoxville for a birthday lunch at Chuy's. We did a little shopping for the birthday boy around town afterwards, then eventually headed home and just chilled.  We decided to hold off on cake and celebrating with any friends til the next evening, when he was feeling much better...

Cake time, the next day.. We had a few close friends stop by for a little while on Wednesday evening:

Sam was fairly paranoid that he was still contagious (even though it had been a solid two days since he was sick, silly guy) and didn't want to take any chances, lol... So he blew out a candle on the opposite end from where the cake was, haha. Here are his buddies singing to him:

 Ivy insisted on the silly faces. It must run in the family, lol:

Pretty low-key this year but just the way Sam preferred it. Even though he wasn't feeling quite 100%, the day of his actual birthday on Tuesday was way fun. It was nice to spend the day together without any obligations. Just a free day! Happy birthday babe! Here's to many more great birthdays to come!(..and hopefully ones without sickness, hehe.)