Meeting the siblings

Ethan and Olivia finally got to meet their new little bro this morning. They've been going out of their minds, semi-patiently waiting for their chance to hold the baby.

Ethan is ridiculously proud and Olivia's tiny little mother instincts are oozing out of her right now; she wants to 'help' however she can.

He's here!

Luke Roberts
Born July 1, 2009 @ 9:04 p.m.
7 pounds 9 ounces
19 1/2 inches long

Mandy is doing well after her 11 hour delivery - 10:00 a.m till 9:04 p.m.! I also am well.

The first two kids......

We knew that the hospital would be calling us in this morning to have Mandy induced, possibly as early as 5:30 a.m. So last night we packed the kids up and shipped them off to Grandma Roberts' house to spend the night.

Here they are all packed up and ready to go!


And here is the last known photograph as us as a family of four.


This morning both Mandy and I thought that 'he who cannot be named' would have been here by now and that I would be spending the night with Ethan and Olivia in our own house. Not quite.

This delivery is taking a lot longer than anyone thought so it looks like the kids will be spending a second night at grandma's house. Thanks for watching them, mom.

((crickets chirping)) ...... waiting.........

Not a lot to update right now. Just waiting for this little guy to get here. Also, for those of you emailing and sending text messages, no - we don't have name yet. At least a name that we can agree on anyway. I like cool names and Mandy likes ridiculous names. Right now we are going by 'He who cannot be named.'

Anyway, to pass the time Mandy has been watching TV, chatting with me, trying to sleep (hard to do with nurses and doctors continually coming into our room), eating ice chips


and checking out the Internet on my laptop.

Ahhh, sweet relief!

The epidural is in, the pain is almost gone and Mandy is just minutes away from being able to fall asleep for a little while. Mandy held out for 3 hours before getting the epidural; I'm not really sure why she waited for more than 5 minutes?

Both the anesthesiologist and her nurse were surprised/shocked that Mandy didn't show any emotion when the procedure was happening. She didn't squeeze my hand, grimace - not even so much as a flinch! This gal is tough!!

Sorry, no pictures. I was threatened with my life if I even tried. :)

Pitocin is flowing and doing its job (hopefully)

Mandy is now hooked up to her IV and to the Pitocin. For those that don't know, Pitocin is the magic juice that helps to start the labor process. Here she is all hooked up. No turning back now!


At about 11:20 a.m. the doc broke Mandy's water. Now all we have to do is hurry up and wait! I can see on the monitor, and Mandy can feel all over her body, that the Pitocin is now working because the contractions have picked up in frequency and force! Mandy, being tough as nails as usual, is holding off on getting her epidural until the pain is a little bit worse.

Off to the hospital to have Mandy induced for labor

Talked to the hospital this morning and they told me that if we could be there by 10:00 a.m then we could be induced! Mandy is more than a little ready to have this baby so we made the 15 minute drive in about 6 minutes - including a stop at the gas station to fuel up!

Here we are in our labor & delivery room right before Mandy slipped into her hospital gown.


And here's the sexy patient in her gown: