5 months old!

Savannah turned 5 months old today. I am both happy and sad about it. This is the first "month birthday" that I was truly nostalgic. She's almost halfway to a year. I miss her being a tiny newborn who just slept in my arms all the time. Now, I have to work hard if I want her to sleep on me. But I love the new things she is doing...

She loves the dog now. She's always watchinng him (and pulling his ears). She's very interested in toys, and her favorites are the toy elephants she has. I think she's going to be an elephant girl. We got her a my pal violet the other night, and all three of us love it! She's enjoying food so much. So far she's tried green beans, oatmeal, pears, and sweet potatoes. Oatmeal is by far her favorite. She can't get enough. I have started making my own foods for her as well. Green beans were my first attempt and it worked out well. She hasn't tried them yet, but eventually! Next up, I'll make carrots and maybe some avocado. Exciting times to come! :) Love my sweet girl!

Back to work, back to work

I really need to be better at keeping up with this. I want to keep track of so many things "Savannah" and feel like this would be a great place to do it. Savannah is now 4.5 months old. I cannot even believe this!! The time is going way too fast for my liking. She is starting to be a roller. She can roll from back to belly, but then gets mad when she gets stuck like that because she absolutely hates being on her belly. She had her 4 month check up last week where she received 2 more shots. Its the second time, but it didn't get any easier for me to hear those awful cries from her. She weighed 13lbs, 3 oz at the appt and the pedi gave us the go ahead to begin some solid foods. So far, we have tried green beans and oatmeal. She wasn't overly thrilled with the beans, but can't get enough of the oatmeal! Mama loves oatmeal too, daddy hates it, so I'm glad to know oatmeal is acceptable in her book :)

We have also entered into the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. I was hoping this wouldn't happen. But, it has. And it started on the same day that I went back to working full time. Peachy timing, Savannah ;) I think it might also have a lot to do with her teething...she has two teeth now! The last week we have either slept in the living room together-her in her bouncer, me on the couch, or I have just brought her into bed with me. This is the only way I was able to get any sleep. I didn't mind the extra cuddles at night though :) Those nights were priceless.

Speaking of work...I have accepted a long term subbing position. I am teaching pre k! I started last week and will (hopefully) go until April. I have loved it so far, and Savannah has a great babysitter that lives close to my school. I drop her off each day around 7:30 and pick her up by 3. I feel lucky in this aspect because I don't feel like i am away from her for too terribly long. I know other mama's are not so blessed so for that, I am very thankful. I did not want to work full time during Savannah's first year, but I know and keep telling myself, this is what is best for our family. It is important to me to be able to give her the things she needs, and sometimes what she wants. This opportunity also allows me to be able to spend the summer home with her, which I am very exctied about!

We have our first snowy day today and I am thrilled! I get to spend the day at home with Savannah and we have been having a great time. She has napped awesome today, so I even got a little "me" time and some laundry/cleaning done. When she wakes up, I plan to do some reading with her :) She loves books already! Definitely her mama's girl :)

Savannah Meets NJ!

Well the day is here! Savannah is going to be introduced to NJ! I am super excited and I can tell by her smiles that she is too :) She is also going to be meeting a ton of family for the first time, but the biggest excitement is that my mom (her Nana) is going to be meeting her finally. My mom was unable to make her birth so we are excited for her to meet Savannah. She will also be meeting her 3 cousins, her aunts and uncles, and several of Mommy's cousins. She will also be meeting Mommy's best friend and her 3 little ones. We may even take a trip to Mommy's old workplace where I spent 8 years of my life. So exciting!

Preparing for this trip was much more complicated than I thought. There is so much that needed to be packed! And I'm still worried that I'm forgetting something important. I've spend so much time focusing on packing her things that I pretty much neglected my own stuff. If you see me this weekend and I'm wearing the same set of clothes everyday, this is why.

We are going to be doing some fun things, hopefully! Including a birthday party for Savannah's cousin Hailey! She is turning 2! Wow, I can't believe it. Seems like she was just born.

I'll leave you with Savannah's 2 month picture. She is so beautiful and I make sure to tell her that everyday and so does her Daddy. :)

Tummy Troubles

For the past few weeks, my little princess has been having some tummy troubles. She has been extremely gassy. At first, there was just a lot of grunting and gas passing, but more recently its been accompanied by the crankies. One night it was so bad that we had to let her sleep in her car seat so that she was sitting up (this night she slept for 6 hours straight, which was heaven!). I tried everything-bicycle legs, tummy rubs, burping every few minutes (or ounces), keeping her sitting up for an hour after eating (this was not happening in the overnight feedings though), and gas drops. Nothing seemed to be working. Cue online research-

I googled and spent a lot of time on Thebump.com and finally found something that I was interested in trying. This something was called gripe water. We found it at walmart and while it was not cheap (ten dollars a bottle), it has been THE solution! She has never been so happy! Last night, I gave it to her in a bottle after her last feeding and before she went to bed and she went right to sleep! It was great! And then today, shes napped like a champ, which hasnt happened in awhile and has resulted in her being completely overtired at night. Being overtired + gas pains=a severely fussy Savannah.

I'm so happy to have my happy baby back! And perfect timing too, because I've started babysitting two other kids during the day so I need for her to be happy during the day :)

Way to go princess! :)

Birth Story

I need to keep this updated more often now that the little one is here. There are so many things that I'm going to want to remember, starting with the birth story. It definitely was not my ideal birth story, but my precious Savannah is here safe and that's all that matters :)

I guess you could say that the "birth story" started around 20 weeks of pregnancy. This is when we found out that baby was a girl, but we also found out something else that was significant. (Though we didn't know how significant until she was born) I had two placentas. After several more ultrasounds, it was determined that the only complication this would pose would be that I could not deliver the placenta on my own but that the doctor would have to manually remove it. No big deal. We had ultrasounds every 4 weeks to keep track of little one's growth because there could be less room for her to grow, but everything was looking good til the very end.

Somewhere around 31 or 32 weeks, I began having trouble with headaches, swelling, and high blood pressure. I got to go through the wonderful "24 hour urine collection" to test for pre-eclampsia at 35 weeks. Everything came back normal but these symptoms never went away. My doctor was out of town for my 36 week appt and when I went in for my 37 week appt, he advised me that I should have been put on bed rest the previous week because they were worried abotu my high bp. It was still high at my 37 week, headaches were getting unbearable, and my feet were about the size of Fred Flintstone's. Dr decided we needed to make a plan to deliver the baby asap. He wanted me to get to 38 weeks before being induced just to make sure little one had a few extra days to develop her lungs. 37 week appt was on a Tuesday, I would be 38 weeks on Sunday. Dr decided a week from the appt was a good day to induce, but the hospital was booked that night, and the night before that, so we settled on Sunday, August 21 when I would be exactly 38 weeks. In the meantime, I was on strict bedrest. I had to go in the night before to be put on citotec to get things going before starting pitocin the following morning. So it was set, Savannah's birth day would be August 22. I was praying that things would go smoothly because I often heard of inducing ending up in c-section, and I did NOT want that to happen.

Fast forward to Sunday night. I was scared to death all day long and kept thinking of ways to back out. We got to the hospital at 6pm (after dinner at Bob Evans and a trip to crafts 2000 where Caleb bought some chocolate "its a girl" cigars) and had my dad and stepmom with us. I got all situated in my room and hooked up to all the machines. I got my first IV which I was scared about beforehand, but ended up not being bad at all. I was told that past midnight I could not eat and that they were putting the first round of citotec in at 7pm. That first round brought me to tears. It was so painful and I was so scared and so I just lost it. I calmed down shortly after when a large group of our friends showed up to sing and pray with us. :) THis was so great, I really appreciated them coming. Dad and stepmom stayed til about 9pm. I had the hubby get me some cafeteria food since this would be the last time I could eat. We tried to sleep, but it was not happening for me. Several times I was hysterically crying and begging Caleb to take me home. I felt bad for inducing labor (even though i knew it was for the best) and was just so uncomfortable and wanting my own bed. Having to pee every 10 minutes and having to unhook all of the monitors every time did not allow for much rest time. It seemed like every time I was almost asleep, I'd either have to pee or a nurse would come in to rearrange the monitors because little one kept moving off of them. It was a long night.

About 4 am is when the scares started happening. A nurse came running into the room and advised me that she was giving me a shot to stop contractions (They had started around midnight and were getting stronger). She said that every time I had a contraction, baby's heart rate would drop. It would quickly come back up, but after a call to my dr, this is what he advised them to do until he could get there in the am. That shot caused the worst after effects. My body shook consistently for about an hour and it was the most awful feeling. The nurse also mentioned that if baby still wasnt handling labor well, there would be talk of a c-section in the morning. This terrified me and I cried for hours. I was told that the dr would be in around 7:30-8am to talk to me and make some decisions. 8am came and went with no sign of the dr. Eventually, a nurse came in and said he had called and advised them to try starting with the pitocin, in hopes that the baby would tolerate that better than the citotec. We started with a very low dose and baby did well. The upped it a bit and baby still did well. Big sigh of relief from me. At about 9am, dad and stepmom came and we told them what was going on. Shortly after, my dr came over. He checked me out and said everything was looking good (I was at 1cm) and that he wanted to break my water. THis was probably the strangest feeling ever. They continued to up the pitocin, but baby's heart rate started to react strangely again. They stopped the pitocin for awhile to give the baby a break and restarted it at a low dose awhile later. Meanwhile, I'm having loads of contractions through all of this and they are getting increasingly more painful. The dr told me I could ask for the epidural whenever I wanted. Around 12pm, the dr came back over and checked me again. I was still at 1cm, no progression and baby was still having difficulty. They stopped and restarted the pitocin again. THis time, dr mentioned the possibility of a c-section but said we were going to give it til dinner time before making the decision. He wanted us to give it a fair shot and I was thankful for that. He said he had a monitor in his office that showed him what was going on with baby and me and that he would be watching while he went about his afternoon appts.

Unfortunately, around 2pm, things took a turn for the worse. Baby was really not handling things well and the nurses thought it was necessary to put me on oxygen. This scared the bejeezus out of me, and by this point I was exhausted, scared, and in lots of pain from the contractions. I was just about to ask for the epidural when the nurse said she had put a call into my dr because they needed to make a decision quickly. About an hour later, this same nurse came and said down to talk to me. She was the sweetest person and had been with me all day and knew how much I did not want a c-section. However, she had been the one sent to tell me that we had no other options. This would be the safest route because they believe that my second placenta was blocking little one's exit. It was causing her distress. They had scheduled the surgery for 4pm and she explained to me in detail what would be happening. At this point, I was so exhausted that I just wanted her out, no matter how it had to happen.

At about 3:40pm, they came to get me to take me down to the OR. Caleb was not allowed to come down until I was prepped and ready. This made me so upset. That same wonderful nurse was the one who took me to the OR but was only allowed to the door. I was put in a room with a ton of people that I did not know and it was very overwhelming, I couldnt see their faces either so that made it worse. I started crying hysterically because I was so scared. Everyone tried to calm me down, but were unsuccessful. Luckily, in just a few minutes my dr showed up. He came and sat in front of me and held my hands and talked to me while the anesthesiologist worked behind me. I was able to calm down as soon as I saw a familiar face. The epidural and spinal were the weirdest feeling things ever but I was immediately numb. I felt better after this and began to get excited to see my baby. Dr Filozof then asked me what I'd like to listen to on the radio which made me laugh. I of course asked for country and couldnt help but laugh when he was singing along while getting me ready. Soon after, Caleb was allowed in. I cried as soon as I saw him because I was so relieved that he was there. Soon things started, and dr f explained everything that he was doing. Eventually, it was time to meet Miss Savannah! Dr told Caleb to stand up with his camera. I felt a little tugging and pressure, and then I heard it. The sweetest cry ever! I began bawling when I saw my beautiful princess. Caleb cut the cord and they wrapped her up and brought her to me to give her a kiss. It was the grossest and most beautiful thing ever :) They got her cleaned up and brought her back over for pictures with Caleb and I.

Meanwhile, Dr Filozof pulled out the placenta. Everyone was amazed by this! It ended up being that they were both connected by a clear membrane which is why it was blocking the exit. Also, the two placentas were only 1/3 of the size of a normal working one, so for the last few weeks, Savannah has not been getting what she needed from them. The one comment I remember most after her birth was my dr saying "this was the best decision we could have made". Any doubts I had about being induced were immediately thrown away. My baby was much better off outside than in. The nurses and dr passed around the placentas and examined them. Everyone was amazed and most said they had never seen anything like this before. It was sent off to a lab to be studied. Caleb took pictures of it and Dr Filozof asked for a copy of it to show off in his office. I have to remember to take that to my 6 wk appt.

Caleb left with Savannah and the dr began stitching me up, all while singing along to the radio and talking to me about the placenta. Shortly after they left, the nursery called up to tlel me how much she weighed-5 lbs, 10 oz. I could not believe how tiny she was! I began to feel really nauseous and told the nurse sitting with me. She gave me a shot of something and that feeling immediately went away. Thank goodness, I did not wanna puke right there on the table. I was incredibly exhausted at this point and could not wait to get to recovery so I could sleep a little. They gave me two heated blankets and I was out for a little bit. I had to keep waking up to answer questions in the recovery room. I was having trouble getting feeling back in my legs and feet. You are supposed to be able to feel again before going back to the postpartum floor but after 1 1/2 hrs they decided I could go up anyway. They got me ready and I headed up to hold my baby!

When I got upstairs, I saw my family waiting in the hallway with cameras ready. I felt like a celebrity! We stopped at the nursery door and Kelly (my recovery nurse) asked for "Baby Smith" and brought her to me. It was love at first sight! We took some pictures and exchanged some kisses but then she had to go back into the nursery for a little while longer to warm up. About 30 mins later, they brought her to me and asked me to nurse her, so I did (though she faked me out, but we didnt know this til later). We had a small group waiting in the waiting room to meet her so we asked them to come in. It was Amanda, Michael, and Landon, Tom and Brianne, Laurie, and Savannah's Aunt Kara. They all took turns loving on her and commenting on how tiny she was.

I was not prepared for how painful the recovery from a c-section would be. I made it through though and am now prepared for the future if I have to do it again. Hopefully next time I will get the experience of a natural birth :)

Introducing...

Well, I had intention of posting a 3D picture of our precious little baby girl, but for some reason my computer was being uncooperative. Anyway, last week we were finally able to find out the gender of our little one. Our little one had a different agenda though. We have a very modest child on our hands! Finally, the ultrasound tech was able to get a clear picture and reveal to us that....we have a beautiful baby girl! We are so beyond thrilled! I have always dreamed of having a baby girl and am super excited. Daddy was pushing for a boy, but his face and excitement upon finding out it's a girl were priceless :) Savannah Marie will be making her debut around September 2! Now the fun part starts....shopping for the lil princess! I will leave you all with a picture of the room design we plan to use....

Baby!

So it's been awhile since I've posted in here and a TON has happened. We had Christmas, which was great, super great. And a few days after Christmas, December 29 to be exact, we got the best gift in the world...we found out we are expecting our first baby! It was the biggest and best surprise EVER! The moment we found out was much much different than I expected it ever would be, but it was good. I panicked completely, thinking oh no, we aren't ready for this, we can't afford it, yada yada... and hubby was ecstatic! He was soooo thrilled! Totally the opposite of how I pictured it hah. Anyway, I am thrilled and can hardly wait to meet this little guy/girl :)

To make it even better, two of my closest friends are expecting babies just a few months before us so our baby will have friends close to their age :) EDD is September 2.

Maybe now I will have more to write about and I can keep this thing updated more than every few months.