Piper- One Month

I can't believe my sweet baby is one month old! We can't imagine life without  her & I'm' so grateful that I have another month off with my sweet girl. Here are some facts and tidbits about Piper at one month. 

I weigh... 9.5 pounds!

I wear newborn size diapers. 

I wear some newborn clothes and some 0-3 months. 

I sleep pretty good. I used to wake up every two hours to eat but last night was our best night yet! I ate at 10, 3, & 7! Hoping this keeps up + gets even better!

I've just recently switched and am eating about 3-4 ounces at a time!

I had been eating 2 ounces every 2 hours but as stated I'm starting to eat a little more so we're going a little longer in between feedings. 

I  love my rock n play, the kitchen light, eating, & kisses from mommy and daddy!

Piper's Birth Story

My happy little family

<3

So in love

Such a good daddy

Piper's coming home outfit my wonderful sister made :)

Waiting for the first time at the hospital

My very last bump pic!

Well there will be no 40 week post for Miss Piper! Somebody decided she wanted to come 4 days early & that was quite alright with me :) I got extremely lucky with not only my pregnancy but with Piper's birth, which is something I prayed for before we even knew about our Piper. So even though it was a mostly easy labor, it's still called labor for a reason. So here are most of the details surrounding her coming into the world! Fair warning, this is LONG!

Wednesday, October 12th, I had my 39 week appointment with my dr. I was a little worried when we got there because Piper had slowed extremely in her movements to the point where I spent an hour and a half before I went to the dr trying to get her to move without much luck. So my dr listened to her heartbeat and declared it good, but we still went ahead and hooked up to a stress test monitor to see her movements. All was declared good and we finished the appointment. As I mentioned in my 39 week post (& multiple others) I was starting to get a wee bit over pregnancy. Which sounds so terrible esp considering I really had no major issues but sleep was really becoming an ordeal and I LOVE my sleep. We talked it over with my dr and decided to induce Piper on Monday, October 17th (her due date), if she didn't come before then. My dr seemed optimist we'd see her before then & she turned out to be right!

Wednesday night we went to serve at youth at our church like always. It was a little bittersweet because I knew it would be my last Wednesday helping out for the foreseeable future. Towards the end of the night we split into small groups. While Sean was leading ours I had several sharp pains in my belly but didn't think too much of it.

Once we're home I decide to take a hot bath to see if that helps the sharp pains. It didn't really and then I decided to try to go to sleep. But I really couldn't because I kept feeling like I had to pee. So I would get up and not be able to and then have a ton of pressure down south. Around this time Sean went to sleep (it was almost 10) and I started to clue into that maybe what I was feeling was contractions.

At this point I downloaded an app that could track the contractions for me and just kind of settled in to see what was going to happen. By this point it's 10 and this is when I count labor as "starting" for me. I proceeded to track them until almost 2. I talked with my friend Kayla about them until about midnight and then she went to sleep. Around 12:30 I started talking to my friend Ashley about them and she went into freakout mode when I told her it'd been about two hours. The problem was the timing between them wasn't very consistent and I didn't want to go in and be sent home.

I called L&D around 1:45 and explained that I was having contractions every 4-5 mins and had watched them increase since 10. They told me I could come in and get checked. I decided to wait till 2 to wake Sean just to make sure. He was so cute when I woke him up.

Me: hey I think we should probably go to the hospital
Sean: *eyes widen* did your water break?!
Me: well no but I've been having contractions since 10 so I think it might be a good idea

We get to the hospital around three and my friend Ashley meets us there. At this point my mom and sister (who it was planned would both be in the delivery room with us) knew we were at the hospital but were waiting it out to see if it would amount to anything. We get settled in and they check me and I wasn't any further along than I had been at my appointment earlier that day, between a 2-3 & 80% effaced. So that was discouraging especially because we could see that my contractions had increased in pain and number. They decided to have me walk for about 25 mins and check again.

At the next check I still hadn't changed and was given two options. I could go home and come back when either my water broke or my contractions were stronger or we could wait another hour and do more walking and be checked again. But if still nothing had changed would have to go until something else happened. So even though I really didn't want to leave we chose to just go then because I really didn't want to waste anyone's time.

Sean and I decided to stop for donuts on the way home but I was feeling pretty nauseated and didn't want to eat. So we head towards home and are no more than a block from our house when my water broke. At this point I essentially burst into tears. I couldn't believe we were just going to have to turn around and go back and I was terrified my water hadn't really broke and we would be sent home again. Sean tried to immediately turn around to head back but I freaked out and said I wanted to go home first. We pulled over in a church parking lot and I told Sean I needed to get out. At this point water is still basically pouring from me and I made Sean smell it to make sure it really wasn't pee. LOL He confirmed it wasn't so we went home. I changed which was dumb. I was even warned not to change but your brain just doesn't work! Immediately soaked through that and just said whatever. We grabbed a towel and went to leave.

Once outside again the first of the after water breaking contractions began. It was very intense and caused me to start to throw up. So I'm standing to the side of our driveway heaving without much luck of anything coming up because I hadn't ate since before church the night before. I joked with Sean as we went to leave when I was done that I sure was glad he loved me because I knew I was looking a hot mess!

We make it back to the hospital around 6 without any major complications. Because of my nauseousness they gave me a small bucket to hold in my lap for being wheeled back up to labor and delivery (which I never used to throw up in thank goodness). Y'all I became attached to this bucket, think Tom Hanks and Wilson his volleyball in Castaway!

For the next two hours I got blood drawn, an iv put in, and checked (I got to a 4 in the almost hour we'd been gone) all before getting my epidural WHILE having horrible contractions. Let me tell you right now, I have the highest respect for those who go through childbirth completely naturally! Whether you 100% chose to or you had no other options doesn't matter you are AMAZING!!! I was dilated to a 6 by the time I got my epidural and I know there is just no way I could have labored on through all that!

Sean was such a trooper. During that two hours it was just us at the hospital and I know I was not a lot of fun. I was having off the charts contractions about every two minutes and basically wanted to die every time I had one. This isn't an exaggeration for me,  but I also have a low pain tolerance! I didn't want to be touched or talked to really. Back to the bucket, I held it in my right hand the whole time until I got my epi. At one point Sean tried to take it from me because I was essentially just holding it up in the air and I semi freaked out! It had become something for me to focus on during contractions haha and I very much needed it!

The time before the epi and after are like night and day. Once the epidural was in I was a much happier person! My mom got there right after I got it and my sister arrived soon after that. At this point it was around 8 and then it was just a waiting game. Our pastor came by and prayed with us and then later brought us some snack goodies. Mostly we all just sat around talking. I tried to take a small nap since I'd been up over 24 hours by this point but it's hard to rest when you're so excited.

A little before 12 my nurse and nursing student came in and checked me and I was at a 10 so we practice pushed. Y'all, LOL. With my epi I couldn't feel anything so the first practice pushes were a big waste as I did nothing. They came back after 12 and I'd say around 12:30 I'd kinda figured out what to do and we got down to business.

Pushing really wasn't that bad for me either. I could feel some pressure with the contractions which would let me know when to push. I did end up getting pitocin to help make the contractions closer together so we weren't just sitting there for like 5 minutes in between. They also turned my epidural down so that I could push better. When my dr came we were worried I wasn't progressing a lot and they might have to vacuum Piper out but luckily it wasn't necessary! 

Our perfect baby came into the world at 1:57 pm and I could not stop crying right after! I knew I would but it's still so shocking when you see your baby & are like this, I made this!! This feeling hasn't gone away in the past 4 days. We are so in love and awe of our perfect baby girl. Sean is such an amazing dad and my heart is just so full!!!

& that's Piper's birth story! Congrats to you if you read the whole thing! LOL

39 Weeks

 

glasses glare.... 

Weeks: 39 Weeks people!! One week (maybe) to go!

Baby: As big as a watermelon... what!? This must be a tiny watermelon! 19-22 inches long & 7 pounds. Idk how legitimate these numbers are anymore, time will tell!

Total weight gain: Last week I was at 45 total. So between that & 50 I'm sure and I ate a massive amount of potato soup this weekend, so my bet is on 50 lol

 
Maternity clothes? Si.
 
Stretch marks? Still nothing! Feel like I'm gonna jinx it and have a ton pop up this week lol
 
Sleep: I wake up literally every hour after I fall asleep and go potty. Every single night. So that typically has me up about 7-8 times a night LOL so that's fun.
 
Favorite moment of the week: I did a lot of shopping for Miss Piper last week! Rhea Lana's was good to us and I can't wait to have my squishy home and in her cute little sleepers.

Miss anything? I'm seriously counting down till I get to eat my entire package of celebratory cookie dough that's in my fridge when we get home from the hospital.
 
Movement: Yep. A little slower these days because she has literally no room.
 
Cravings? Still just the usual. Although I would still love love love some chicken rings if anyone knows where to find any!
 
Anything make you queasy or sick? Nope!
 
Gender prediction: Girl :) there's been some jokes lately about what if you have her and turns out she's a boy. My answer is always that I will just cry and cry and cry haha no offense to any possible future Bennett boys, but currently you're not welcome! I'm ready to welcome a sweet Bennett girl!

Labor signs: Dilated to a 2 & 70% effaced. Friday & Saturday night I had some contraction like pains for about an hour each but then they would go away of course so we'll see.

Symptoms: Same old same old.
 
Belly button in or out? Out.
 
Wedding rings on or off? Off. I'm so ready to wear them again!

Mood: Pretty good!
 
Looking forward to: Seeing what this week brings for us! Hopefully our sweet girl :)

Freak-out moment of the week: Hmm. I think I was good this week.

Thankful for: Modern medicine. I commend all those who go about labor naturally, but that is not my birth plan at all! I'm slightly terrified something will go wrong and I'll have to go the natural way, but I'm trying to remain positive and tell myself I can hold out till I can and will get an epidural LOL

38 Weeks

Weeks: 38 Weeks people!! The end is in sight!

Baby: As big as a swiss chard. I only know what chard is thanks to Parks & Recreation lol 19-22 inches long & 6.5 pounds. Idk how legitimate these numbers are anymore, time will tell!

Total weight gain: Last week I was at 43 total. So if you're paying attention, that means I gained 5 pounds in a week. So fun. I go back Wednesday. I'd say we're close to 50 now.

 
Maternity clothes? Si.
 
Stretch marks? Still nothing.
 
Sleep: Without wanting to jinx it, this actually improved this last week which was wonderful! For my reflux, I stop eating at least 3 hours prior to going to sleep. I take tums when I get home from work, Pepcid after dinner, Tums before bed, and eat saltines before bed. + I still sleep reclined. All of this combined with the fact that Piper is a little lower seems to be doing the trick LOL
 
Favorite moment of the week: On Saturday night Sean's mom, Kayla, & I went shopping at rhea lana's! Does Piper have a lot of clothes already? Of course. Did that stop me from getting her more? Of course not. lol But i got her a lot of cute outfits and came in $1 under budget so I'm calling that a win lol

Miss anything? TMI, but I super miss not going to the bathroom literally every hour. And sometimes that's with me holding it for a bit lol
 
Movement: Yeah. She's still my little wiggle worm.
 
Cravings? I've still been pretty into ice cream. I got a blast from sonic on saturday & had them mix oreos & m&m's and omg it was so good!
 
Anything make you queasy or sick? Nothing this past week thank goodness!
 
Gender prediction: Girl :)

Labor signs: Still just Braxton-Hicks contractions & round ligament pain. I would say both are def picking up though. When I went to the Dr. last week I was dilated to a 1 & 70% effaced. Hoping more progress has happened this week, although Piper is on strict commands from multiple people to wait until next week lol

Symptoms: Same old same old.
 
Belly button in or out? Literally just the top half is out LOL
 
Wedding rings on or off? Off.

Mood: It's amazing what not throwing up in the middle of the night can do for your mood lol
 
Looking forward to: Meeting Piper!! Knowing it's so close is so exciting and terrifying all wrapped up in one.

Freak-out moment of the week: I swear if I see 1 more animal cruelty post on fb!

Thankful for: Having time to get prepared for P's arrival. I'm a planner (shocking to all of you I know ;) ) so I've been mostly ready for the last month but I feel like at this point she can come and we're going to be as ready as we could be! It's nice that now we're just waiting for her and not scrambling to get everything finished.

37 Weeks

Weeks: 37 Weeks

Baby: As big as a winter melon. 19-22 inches long & 6.5 pounds. Idk how legitimate these numbers are anymore, time will tell!

Total weight gain: Last week I was at 38 total. I go back Wednesday. I'd say we're past 40 now.

 
Maternity clothes? I feel like I should delete this question since every week it's yes. Obviously it's not going to suddenly change and I go back to all my before clothes before she is here lol
 
Stretch marks? Still good lol
 
Sleep: Ugh. For the first time in my life I actually dread going to sleep. I cannot get comfortable to save my life & I never know if reflux is going to attack.
 
Favorite moment of the week: We had a 5th quarter for the youth kids on Friday night and it was a lot of fun. We have such a great group of kids! The evening was spent playing apples to apples & then watching the kids try to kill each other in competitive group games lol. The only down fall was it started at 9 and I stop eating at 7 each night so I couldn't eat any of the yummy food that was around.

Miss anything? SLEEP! Good hard sleep.
 
Movement: Yep though she is running out of room haha
 
Cravings? Omg yesterday I wanted chicken rings more than anything in the world. Sadly we could not find them at walmart and I had to settle for chicken fries :(
 
Anything make you queasy or sick? Just reflux.
 
Gender prediction: Girl :)

Labor signs: Still just Braxton-Hicks contractions & round ligament pain

Symptoms: Just what I've already whined about lol
 
Belly button in or out? Flatish
 
Wedding rings on or off? Off. In fact all rings are off. Sean didn't think it was neat when I showed him how when my hands swell the infinity sign on my ring brands me lol

Mood: Still whiny lolol and still sick too for that matter.
 
Looking forward to: Getting over this cold!

Freak-out moment of the week: I don't think I had one this week. lol

Thankful for: family! My brother came up and stayed the night with us last night and it was nice to just relax and hang out. We'll see my sister and her fam (+ my mom) on Thursday when we go to watch Nathan graduate from state trooper school!! & then Sean's mom is coming to stay with us this weekend. So busy busy busy this week.

36 Weeks

 

(This is from my work baby shower Friday! Please ignore my sickly appearance)

Weeks: 36 Weeks

Baby: As big as a large cantaloupe (how nice of them to include the word LARGE). 19-22 inches long & 6 pounds. Idk how legitimate these numbers are anymore, time will tell!

Total weight gain: Somewhere around 35-40 I'm sure. Maybe closer to 35, with being sick this last week I wasn't eating nearly as much as I had been

 
Maternity clothes? Yep & dresses!
 
Stretch marks? Still nothing! I also can't see a good half of my belly though LOL so I guess they could be hiding but I think I'm still in the clear.
 
Sleep: I had some rough nights last week. Currently taking drowsy Robitussin before bed and let me tell you, that stuff is awesome. I still wake up a ton to pee but that's not going anywhere
 
Favorite moment of the week: Baby showers! We've had all our baby showers for Piper now and she is one LOVEDDD little girl. I love seeing how much all the people I love, love my sweet baby who isn't even here yet.

Miss anything? Spicy food! I've really been trying to be good and not eat it as much since I know it irritates my reflux.
 
Movement: Yep, she is always on the go!
 
Cravings? I've been eating a lot of m&m's all pregnancy. I get a big bag and keep them in a tupperware dish to eat on after meals. 
 
Anything make you queasy or sick? Just reflux.
 
Gender prediction: Girl :)

Labor signs: Still just Braxton-Hicks contractions & round ligament pain

Symptoms: Just what I've already whined about lol
 
Belly button in or out? Outish.
 
Wedding rings on or off? Off.

Mood: Sick & whiny.
 
Looking forward to: Getting over this cold!

Freak-out moment of the week: LOL well last night Sean was being really sweet and went grocery shopping for us so I could stay in my drowsy medicine fog. After he finished he wanted to stop at Mulan's and bring dinner home, which I was of course totally cool with. So I called the order in when he was finishing up. We were getting 1 thing each so no big deal. When Sean got home he was like so our Chinese food was $45. Sorry what?! I instantly became super mad. Like way more mad than I should have, we'll blame it on the hormones. But I could not understand why it would be so much or why Sean just paid it without saying anything. Sean didn't want me to call about it because it was already done but I could not let it go. So I called and I promise was nice. I just wanted to understand how shrimp fried rice & general tso's chicken could possibly be that expensive. Of course it was a mistake and the girl at the front rang up the wrong ticket for him. So we got it all cleared up and I felt a million times better. The girl I was dealing with said "why he no say anything??" when we figured out what happened. LOL so now Sean is on strict instructions to NEVER pay that much again and to ask why if someone tries to tell him two dishes equal $45.
 
Thankful for: Sean! I know it seems like I'm making fun of him up there but I'm not. He's just too sweet to contradict people. And he was so great all weekend while I was sick. I did nothing all weekend and he took care of me and the house and pets :)

35 Weeks

Weeks: 35 Weeks 3 Days

Baby: As big as a canary melon, whatever that is! 19-22 inches long & 5.5 pounds. Idk how legitimate these numbers are anymore, time will tell!

Total weight gain: As of yesterday 35 pounds. So I'm averaging around 2.5 a weekish. So depending on when P comes I could get close to 50 altogether. Which blows my mind lol

 
Maternity clothes? Yep & dresses!
 
Stretch marks? Still nothing! I lotion about every other other day cause I'm forgetful lol
 
Sleep: It was actually getting better till allergy junk decided to pop up. To help with my sleep I've stopped eating by 7, switched back to actual Pepcid (normally I'm pro generic drugs but let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference when it comes to heartburn meds), and am still sleeping propped up. All of this has really helped with heartburn which has in turn made my sleep much better!
 
Favorite moment of the week: Saturday was so fun! My BFF Courtney & I spur of the moment planned to hang out and it was so fun. We did some shopping and got lunch and ANDY'S my fav. It was just really fun to spend a lot of time together because it had been foreverrrr since we had. (Upon re-reading this I'm aware I just said fun 3 times. Sorry guys apparently I'm incapable of coming up with different/other words. deal with it!)

Miss anything? Currently breathing! This is part Piper & part allergies though haha
 
Movement: Yep, she is always on the go!
 
Cravings? Ice cream is still big. Blue Bell's Cookie Two Step is seriously the best thing ever. Ever.
 
Anything make you queasy or sick? Just reflux.
 
Gender prediction: Girl :)

Labor signs: Still just Braxton-Hicks contractions. Round ligament pain has really flared up this week also.
 
Symptoms: Just what I've already whined about lol
 
Belly button in or out? Outish.
 
Wedding rings on or off? Off.

Mood: I've been sick and I won't lie, I'm super whiny when I am. Thank goodness Sean loves me.
 
Looking forward to: My work baby shower tomorrow! & I'm getting a pedicure on Saturday!!

Freak-out moment of the week: Y'all this will be a hilarious story for those of you who read to the end. It's a little embarrasing but whatevs, that's life. Sunday night I literally thought my water broke & I was FREAKING out! LOL. I know, I know. Who mistakenly thinks their water breaks? Shouldn't you be able to tell? Yes. I'm dumb. But here's the story. Sean & I had been watching tv in the living room before deciding to go watch in our room. I carried my water bottle and threw it up on the bed. I always do this, whatever. I went and let the dogs in from inside and went to climb into bed. Picked up my water and noticed there wasn't a lot left but didn't think much about it. I just finished it, went and got another, and settled in to watch Parks & Rec. 1 episode later I get up to go make some dinner and notice my pants are wet. What?? Odd. So then I look and the entire area I was sitting was like soaking wet. Y'all I'd been sitting there for 20 minutes never even noticing I was sitting in wetness! What is life? So of course my brain first goes to water breaking but I was like I'm not in any pain, this doesn't make sense. Meanwhile Sean is looking at me like I'm a crazy person. Long story short I think the cap to my water wasn't on fully and it spilled. I still don't know how I managed to sit in it for so long without realizing but whatever LOL the amount of terror I felt when I thought it was go time was great. It'll be real interesting to see how I react when it really is go time!
 
Thankful for: Dayquil. I can't take it currently and I'm really sad about it. So I look forward to the day when I can take whatever allergy/cold meds my heart desires!