6 Weeks

Hunnybuns 1 month photo! I'm kinda super excited to repeat these photos each month!

Wow. How is it possible that just over a month ago ago, I was in my hospital bed cuddling this little lady in my arms. Those first few days after her birth will forever hold a few of the most tender moments of my life. Time goes by so slowly when you're expecting, but once they're here it doesn't slow down!

1. We have officially moved into size 1 diapers. I've been subconsciously avoiding this step despite amc's persistence. Yes... she may or may not have had a few diaper blow-outs to validate ditching the cute newborns' size. 
2. I L.O.V.E. going shopping and running errands with my little woman. Now, why is that? My Moby wrap! Amc tagged along with us on our last shopping trip and he insisted it would be much easier to leave her in the car seat. I told him that he should have stayed home. But, I reluctantly agreed. I totally pouted all throughout the store. Not in the obnoxious way... but by way of letting him know that clearly I was missing out on a bonding moment with my daughter. Bless his heart, he took her out of the car seat and placed her into my awesome 5 yards of stretching goodness! He loves me.
3. Speaking of that man of mine. You know what melts my heart? Catching this man singing sweet lullabies to his baby girl. The other love his life. And he never lets her forget it.
4. Our favorite things about her little body? Delicious cheeks. Chunky double chin. Awesome 2'' long, dark hair. She gets it all from her mama. Chunk and all. yum!
5. I'm her bodily functions' biggest cheerleader! Passing gas and the most awesome burps definitely extracts high pitch squeals and loads of 'good job Hunnybuns!!'

Playtime with her cousins Parker and Grant. No really, she's having so much fun.

On our way to church. She was a total champ.

Ohmygoodness. I just want to pinch her cheeks off!

Yours truly, Me

Savannah's Birth Story

Good gracious... Can someone freeze this moment? 

...What I would give to soak up this moment again and again.

Hunnybuns' due date was set for January 1st. Buuuuut, time was pressed with the return of the school semester and having family in town for only a few short days. With the help of our awesome OB, we scheduled to get induced a few days earlier. 

Tuesday, Dec. 27

6:00pm- Induction day! Freaked out? Not at all. I was ready for our Savannah Jane to be outside of my belly and snuggled into my arms. 

We grabbed some dinner with my entire family at BJ's. I indulged in more slices of the Chicken Alfreado Pizza than I'd like to admit especially considering I had already scarfed the meal I had ordered and moved on to amc's pizza oozing with deliciousness. Case and point. Don't offer to share with me if you're hungry.

9:00pm- When we arrived at the hospital, I was checked at 1cm (3 weeks goin' strong!) and 0% effaced. I changed into my gown and got hooked up to an IV and an absurd amount of monitors. The monitors around my belly showed contractions of moderate strength coming every 5 minutes. I had a feeling that this would be an exciting waiting game. And so, with full bellies and the unknown of how long this labor might take, both amc and I decided get some rest while we still had the chance. 

10:00pm- My nurse, Amber, placed Cervidil onto my cervix to speed along the softening.

12:00am- Amber checked my cervix and didn't feel any progress. Super. Not a problem, we're just two hours in to this shindig. She then started me on an oral pill called Cytotec to induce stronger contractions.

12:30am-Another dose of Cytotec.

2:30am-Goodie! More Cytotec.

4:30am-Amber checked and found no progress. She did mention that my cervix felt very agitated. Ya think? More Cytotec.

6:30am-By this point, my contractions were coupling on top of each other. A special thankyou shout-out to Cytotec. The contractions were manageable. Amber checked me again and couldn't tell if there was any progress. I saw her hands... she had short and stubby fingers. Boo. She had her supervisor come in to re-check me and but I was still 1 cm. My Dr. needed my contractions to spread further apart before we could begin Pitocin. 

9:00am-Amc pulled out the laptop and we started watching a Netflix favorite called Flashpoint while I snacked on some ice chips. By then, I had made 10+ trips to the ladies room where amc would help me waddle over towards. Throughout the entire night, amc woke up with me and stayed by my side to help untangle and unhook me from all of the monitors. He deserves some sort of ''Rockin' Husby'' medal. Maybe he'll be happy with a baby girl? Otherwise, he can bare the next one.

10:00am-My contractions finally began to spread further apart from one another. Now, they were only coming every 2-3 minutes. Still manageable. The nurse started the Pitocin through the IV.

10:30am-Amc's entire family had driven into town the night prior and spent the night at our house. They made a short visit to the hospital to see us before Savannah was born. It was great to see everyone! I ended up laughing my way through a lot of contractions. Sounds nice. Not actually recommended. I must have had a few attention-grabbing contractions by the end of the visit when Keith shuffled the party out. 

11:50am-At this point, my contractions were coming every minute. One minute of an excruciating shrill of pain that wrapped around my stomach to my back. I couldn't think. I couldn't speak. I could only close my eyes and breathe through each awful contraction. After a contraction I would have a minute of recovery. Sigh... It was a blissful minute. I tried standing and would rock my hips back and forth in an effort relieve the pain in my back during the contractions. It was calming. You know... the type of calming that a few bath salts would do to sooth 2 blown off legs. The pain was deep and consuming. Amc sat on the bed with me and somehow he seemed to know when each contraction came. He'd wrap his arms around my back and press hard into the muscles. I don't recall if it relieved any pain... But hindsight, it was a tender time for us while alone in that hospital room together.

Annie took her sweet time while checking my cervix for the umpteenth time but she still couldn't tell if I had progressed. This was a different nurse than the one I mentioned earlier who also had a difficult time with her short, stubby fingers. She felt awful about it. And so, she had another nurse come in to help check me who had hands as long as an angel. I could have kissed her! Until she had me prop my tailbone up onto a flipped-upside-down bed pan. UGH. Ever since I was 8 weeks pregnant, my lower sacrum has consistently had sharp pains. Combine my tender sacrum that is now shooting an unbearable pain met by another contraction that's wrapping around my core all of which while having a hand inserted into my agitated cervix...  

 I cried. 

Sobbed, actually. 

I was so overcome by pain. I had been laboring for over 14 hours and I had reached my breaking moment. Contractions off the charts. And I was only 2 cm.

12:40pm-The anesthesiologist came in and essentially said, "Okay, bend your ginormous belly over while touching your head to your knees all of which while staying still during those 4 awful contractions while I shove a super long needle through your spine." At one point, I remember the lidocaine being injected, blood pressure cuff squeezing the life out of my arm and a contraction coming on while I was essentially hunched over into the fetal position. All I could do was laugh at myself.
   But that was a blessed, blessed epidural. Not too long afterwards I could feel the contractions lessening so that I wasn't consumed with the pain. I knew that sleeeeep was in my future!

1:00pm- Catheter in. Dilated to 3 cm. Annie had me lay on my side with my leg elevated to help with Savannah's dipping heart rate.

3:00pm- Annie came in to flip my body over because she had noticed another dip in Savannah's heart rate. Hallelujah!!! My water had broken! 4 cm.
4:00pm- My mom arrived at the hospital! Yay!

5:45pm- Progressed to a 7-8 cm.
6:35pm- I started to feel a ton of pressure down low. I allowed for about 45 minutes before I mentioned it to the nurse. I didn't want to begin pushing before my body was very ready (Thank you Brittany T!)
7:20pm- No cervix and fully dilated!

Morning sickness--my 9 month sidekick--decided to creep back into the picture as soon as I flipped onto my back to do a couple rounds of pushing. Vomited a few times. It was great.

The NICU nurse came in and had nurse Amber put internal monitors on Savannah's head. Her heart rate was dropping dangerously low and in distress while in between contractions. It was as is if she was holding her breathe after each contraction. My doctor came in and said we needed to speed the delivery along with the help of using the vacuum suction.

Pushing was incredible. I was suddenly outside myself. I wanted so badly to suppress the nausea while I was feeling my baby moving down. I could feel the sweet love for her that I had been developing for 9 months climaxing to unbearable levels. My mom said that her head was crowning! She was so close and I needed to see her. NOW. Only 2 sets of contractions/pushes. Tears swelled up in my eyes. I could feel her slide out of my body.

I was overwhelmed with the love I felt. I cried in pure bliss. All I could think and say was of how beautiful she was. This was the little girl of my dreams. My answered prayer. Any pain I had felt on our journey to receive her was completely forgotten. She was in my arms now. And she is mine forever.

Yours truly, Me

Showers for our Princess

These were all such special days! My baby showers kind of felt like my bridal shower all over again...only 3.5 yrs later celebrating a whole new chapter of my life! With the help from my fabulous mother-in-law, my dear friends Becky and Emily, hosted a beautiful shower in Vidor, TX.

These girls came up with some cute and clever games. 

Elizabeth nailed my baby bump to the exact centimeter. I have to give her credit for knowing her bellies...she's sported the bump 5 times.

I received a precious tiny pearl bracelet from my cousin Priscilla. I felt a lump form in my throat as my eyes glazed over. This was definitely a "holy crap, I'm going to have a baby" moment.

I love these women so much!

Church

The women in my ward at church planned a beautiful shower! Jill, Vernice, and Stacy were the creators behind the scene. I spend most of my time at church working with the younger girls in Primary which left me surprised with how many women arrived to celebrate with me! 

And those gorgeous wooden blocks adorned with dusty rose pink, cream and a soft grey scrapbook paper and vinyl lettering?!! LOVE. That was all Jill and Stacy! They'll look beautiful on a shelf in Savannah's nursery.

The girls outdid themselves with the foods & desserts, the decoration & detail.

A snapshot of a few of the girls chatting

Work

Going into work each day was great due to these sweet & lovely ladies. On my last day,  they each gave a few gifts for Savannah. I'm so excited to go visit them at work to show Savannah off!

My talented & creative cousin, Marissa, made this beautiful charm bracelet with pink pearls. It's gorgeous! She also sells these on Etsy and you'll find a variety of them for purchase at CocoBaby Jewelry. These would make a great gift! I'm so excited for her to wear it at her baby blessing!

Cousin's

Since my sister-in-law Brittany and I have nearly the same due dates we had a joint Packard cousin shower luncheon at Olive Garden.

Such beautiful girls!

I am in LOVE with this hand-sewn quilt that Dianne Scott made for Savannah! The colors & design. It is simply gorgeous. 

Baby Grant made his arrival only 23 hours after Savannah. 

There was so much love surrounding me and so many people encouraging me in this journey. Moments like these I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of thankfulness for the women in my life. Savannah is going to be one loved baby girl.

Yours truly, Me

Week 37: My Pregnancy Diary

Reaching the full-term milestone felt so good. There came a major sense of relief in knowing that she'll be relatively healthy if she decides to come early.

How Big is The Baby?
All of my pregnancy apps, books, and emails tell me what fruit/vegetable my baby resembles each week... well they've all officially given up. Either they are repeating themselves or they continue to compare her to a watermelon. So I really just think it's safe to say, at this point, she's BIG!

How I'm Changing?

I am GINORMOUS! Seriously, I can't believe how much my belly has popped within these last few weeks. Sometimes I forget just how big it is until i open a door straight into it or catch a glance of myself in our bathroom mirrors. Truly mind boggling how drastically the human body can change. 

For nearly 8 weeks, my belly was measuring as if I were 28 weeks. And then, 2 weeks ago, I measured like 32 weeks. And this past week I measured like 35 weeks! Throughout this entire time, we could see through the ultrasounds that little Savannah's weight was always ahead of the game. WEIRD. Her last ultrasound at 36 weeks showed her legs to be measuring nearly 4 weeks ahead of the rest of her body while weighing 6.5lbs! My bruised ribcage will have no problem confirming this.

How I'm Feeling?
The main issue right now is SLEEP. I am well aware that sleep will be at a premium once she makes her arrival and so I was really hoping to avoid entering mommy-hood as a sleep deprived zombie. The problem is, I'm having major pregnancy-induced insomnia, sinus trouble, and a ridiculous amount of urine output. Pleasant, I know. I'm sorry. Because of this, when I sleep I end up having to sleep with my mouth hanging wide open. It is insanely attractive, I assure you. Since I can only breathe through my mouth, after 30 minutes of sleep, I wake up completely dehydrated and scrambling for my trusty insulated water cup that I keep at my bedside. I then chug said water cup and make a trip to the ladies room. Thirty minutes later I get up now needing to pee again. Chug said water. At this point, the insomnia has kicked in and so has Savannah's playtime on my bladder.
See the cycle? Can't breathe. Open mouth. Excessively dry mouth. Chug water. Excessive urination. Savannah's playtime. Insomnia. Can't breathe...
It goes on all.night.long. Eventually by around 3:30 or so I think I just get so exhausted that I just pass out and sleep through the dehydration and bladder triggers. So needless to say, sleep is very minimal and interrupted and not the highlight of my day. Beyond that, there are a few other symptoms that have me feeling like this third trimester is very reminiscent of the first one. The morning sickness is back with it's full force and leaves me with tiny broken blood vessels on my face. My fatigue will reach it's maximum when I try to bake a meal or run errands for too long, while also leaving my lower back hating me for the rest of the evening.

As of lately, my sweet amc has had to have a few heart-to-heart talks with me about relaxing my body and mind. I have felt the nesting surge come and I don't think I have handled it very well. I have to be honest here. A few weeks ago, I realized that I was beginning to feel something else. Scared. I had gotten to this point of pregnancy where I'm suddenly thinking things like "holy crap I'm seriously having a baby." You would think it wouldn't take 9 months to realize this but I had to cut myself some slack and understand that this resurgence of anxiety is normal towards the very end.

I have done a lot of research and read quite a few books and am no longer worried about childbirth or labor anymore--I feel totally ready (or as ready as I can be) for the process. It's more of what happens afterwards...
I'm going to have a baby. And then I'll take her home. And no one is going to tell me what to do next. I guess my worries weren't focused on having the baby but more about being a parent. Someday this baby will be five years old. I can't even wrap my head around that right now.

I'm doing my best to soak up these last few weeks, and feeling a bit more emotional that this part of the journey is coming to an end. Despite the sickness and the aches, and all the other strange things that accompany pregnancy, I have really really loved being pregnant. Often times, during my insomnia moments, I'll find myself in tears when I imagine the moment that Savannah will arrive into our arms. My heart feels touched at the miracle of developing a child within me. It's difficult to put into words the gratitude that I feel to be a part of bringing a baby girl into this world. Inviting her into the family that Aaron and I have built here together. I feel blessed for having a Savior that allows families to be together eternally.

I know all of the changes will be for the better, and I know there will be good days and there will be hard days. As the end draws closer and closer, I am becoming very aware that my world is going to change in incredible ways. I have watched this video a few times this week and have cried my way through it each time.

My favorites are "it's okay to be scared" and "you are the expert." And when I was scared, I was really just scared of the wondering and the what if's. Amc helped re-focus me into putting all of that energy into giving our little girl the best life we can give her.

What I'm working on most these days is just feeling mentally and emotionally prepared now. Doing yoga, reading pregnancy related books, and just generally trying to feel really peaceful and calm going into this final process. As a naturally anxious person, my instincts are to worry and obsess over details, but I've been working really hard these past few months to overcome all of that and simply live in the moment as it happens. I can honestly say that I feel more calm and excited than I do nervous or scared.

More nursery progress bit by bit, and I should have a final nursery update in the next week to share with ya'll! I am so excited!

Odds and Ends:
Total weight gained: 25 pounds
Gestational age: 37w 5d
Doctor appointment news: 1/2 cm dilated
Items washed: 0-6 month clothes and sheets
Signs of labor: zero
Maternity photos: Didn't they turn out fabulously?! Check out her site HERE

Yours truly, Me

Week 32: My Pregnancy Diary

Eight months down.

The thirties continue! Does anyone else think that is just really really crazy? Whenever I hear someone is in the 30+ weeks, I think that sounds like the end. In every respect--emotionally and physically--I'm becoming more and more aware that the end is near.

I find myself constantly reminding amc, "Ohmygosh...! Can you believe there's going to be three of us? Like, right now... there's even three of us in this room." It encourages us to cherish the spontaneous evenings that we find ourselves running to the car while dressed in our jammies to grab our favorite hot chocolate from the gas station on the corner and a blockbuster movie to spend the evening snuggled up with left-over halloween candy.

How Big is the Baby?
Weighing about 4.5 pounds and measuring around 19 inches, she is now as large as a cantaloupe.

Some days I would like a time machine and fast forward through the next 8 weeks, since pregnancy has felt like an eternity. Other days, I would like to hit pause and buy myself a little more time.
How I'm Changing?
Honestly, I'm huge. But in spite of what I see in the mirror, I haven't gained nearly any weight this past month and my tummy growth didn't progress as much as my OB would have liked. I have my follow-up visit on Monday and hopefully will find out better news about Savannah's growth!
In general, everything is just getting...bigger. It's funny that I used to think all of these body changes were such a big deal, and by now I just roll with it and laugh. My sports bras don't fit anymore and neither will my hips in all of my skirts with zippers, and honestly--I don't care. For all the aches and pains that have come with it, I am totally obsessed with my big belly. I love it. I rub it and watch it move all day long. Amc and I will spend time laying in bed just watching it jump around. Moments like that make me completely forget the extra flab on my thigh's and roundness is my cheeks. It's all about perspective. I'm happy and healthy and that's all that matters to me.

What I'm Feeling?
I can feel her moving ALL the time now, and the movements range from way down deep in my pelvis to high up under my ribs. The kicks are constant and big these days. Quite often I'll see Savannah's body make large and protruding bulges from underneath my skin. She is definitely taking up a lot of space! I hope that my belly and skin can keep up. My Braxton Hicks contractions always get worse the days while I'm at work. My stomach will instantly become rock hard and I literally feel like my skin is going to burst open. We have reached maximum capacity in here!
I'm still dependent on my daily nausea pills to keep the edge off. No extreme cravings or food aversions, but it takes me a long time to choose something to eat these days. Unless it's a McDonalds mcdouble, fries, and completed with a hot fudge sunday. I know! I know. I'm pregnant. Get over it ;-)
The Nursery
I am into the hard-core nesting phase of pregnancy where I want everything to feel ready and settled, and I'm itching to finish the nursery as soon as we can. I've recently entered the uhhh-mazing world of Pinterest. It's such a rush. I've been able to organize my random ideas and hopes for her room and my maternity photos that my cute cousin Kylie volunteered to do. Check out her blooming website here!

Woah. Only 56 more days until it's show time.

Yours truly, Me