Kennedy 7 weeks old

I swear, she wants to talk already. Every morning she greets daddy and I with a smile. I lurve her. :-)

Kennedy Anais is here!

Born 10/21/2009 @ 7lbs 6oz here is our Blue Devil baby (born at Duke). This child is all me it seems. Kennedy has brown hair and brown eyes just like her mommy. She loves her daddy and held on to him at the nursery the moment she was born. Check this out :



She is currently going on 3 weeks old. We haven't seen any major changes yet. I am shocked though that she has faint eyebrows! I was born with a pretty thick set! Kennedy has her daddy's skin color but looks just like her mom. She has mom's lips, eyes, nose and fierceness! K always said he wished he knew me growing up - I think God may have heard his wishes (lol). Here is an adorable pic of her in a pink outfit my cousin sent us from Dominican Republic :



more pics to come!

I think she's gonna be in here for a while

In here meaning my ute. I feel like the baby settled in a nice comfortable spot and is camping out there until she sees fit. I really think she wants to be cooked untill her EDD or later. *sigh*. I think I'm going to start mandatory walks on myself.

Today I went to the doc, all is perfect it seems. Tomorrow, I go in for my last u/s due to the baby's 2 vessel cord (will make a post about this later to explain). Anyway, K is coming with me and he is excited because he'll be seeing the baby on the u/s screen again.

FYI - I'm 37 weeks and 3 days today. 17 days left tomorrow... OH.EM.GEE

Pregnancy Insomnia

For the past week. I've been tired yet too anxious to fall asleep at night. No nesting involved. I just sit there and stare at the ceiling hoping to God I fall asleep eventually. I keep thinking about the baby and what other things I have left to do.

Its borderline obsessive. In the past 7 days this has been my schedule.

• Fall asleep at 5am
• Wake up at noon or 1pm
• Try to fall asleep at midnight
• Fall Asleep at 5am
• .........and it repeats

It sucks. My internal clock has shifted. I know I'm tired. I can hardly keep my eyes open but finally "letting go" and going off into dreamland is proving difficult these days. I'm not sure what is causing it but I hope it stops soon. I feel like I'm running on empty.

I've tried some remedies... taking a shower at night, aromatherapy, getting K to massage my feet. There are days that duue to the utter exhaustion, by the time 6pm rolls around - I DO get sleepy. However, if I do fall asleep at that time - the insomnia seems to be worse the next couple of days. So I try to hold out but eventually I just fall back into my 5AM ritual


/vent over

So this is what the baby is going to look like...

Sorry folks, I couldn't resist. You simply go to makemebabies.com upload a picture of yourself, have it morphed with a pic of your partner (or celebrity) and voila - you have a pic of your future baby.

So what do you guys think? I think she's kinda cute..lol

35/35 today! woo-hoo

35 weeks left and 35 days to go. I"m almost there. This week's appointment is on Thursday and I'll be given the Group B strep test. In short, strep is a type of bacteria than can be passed to a newborn during labor. If you test positive, they basically start you up on antibiotics so that the baby's chances of getting infected are reduced.

How big is Baby?


Here is a cool video of weeks 28-37 (last trimester). So far so good, I'm tired and feel achy. The little one is running out of space and every now and then I get bouts of insomnia. Its funny how nature works. I'm scared of labor and delivery but that feeling is slowly starting to fade with restlessness - I WANT AN OUTSIDE BABY ALREADY~!

My family calls me everyday to check in and make sure I'm ok. K, is making sure that I absolutely do *nothing* around the house so that I don't end up hurting his 'golden child' in any way lol. I think by far, he has become the most amazing, supportive, loving husband in the world. He has even gone as far as cooking some of the meals throughout the week and even baking some desserts. If you guys know anything my husband, he doesn't bake. However, he gladly puts on his chef's hat and willing to wear many others for the sake of my happiness. God, I lurrrrrve him.

At night, he'll sit and talk to my belly for minutes on end. "What's going on in there?....How are you doing?" he asks the baby. She kicks on cue as if in response her daddy's voice. Its by far, one of the things I most enjoy about this pregnancy- both of them trying to communicate with each other through the wall that is my belly.

Its crazy to think of how much we love each other and in love we both are with our daughter. And she hasn't even been born yet! I'd hate to sound sappy but I've sat there and pinched myself. I seem to have stumbled upon the family life I always wanted and dreamed of.

Then, I remember there are no coincidences. K, and I have fought hard to make it through together all these years. Events in our life wont always be puppies and rainbows. I'm sure we'll see more stormy weather. Yet, its these moments I try to record in my heart in mind. These are the times when 'living the moment' and just enjoying the day are in order.

The Shape of a Mother

http://theshapeofamother.com/

God, I love this website. To sit here and say that I fully embrace motherhood and everything that it brings would be a lie. I have my days. Although, I know being a mother will be one of the most rewarding things I'll ever be in this life - I still have some gripes. Get ready, because they are the most vain reasons or concerns you'll hear.

What are those reasons you say? Its the changes my body is going through. Forget the 30lb weight gain. I have full confidence that I'll burn that, eventually. Its the more permanent changes like.......the 2 inch drop my already heavy breasts have taken. It's the belly that looks like its been mauled by a tiger. Worst of all, I know its all the sagging skin that might not pop back into place.... *le sigh*

I told you, I have my days. Most of the time I feel like everyday is xmas. I look forward to being a mother. I yern for the day I get to breastfeed and kiss my little girl good night. Sometimes, I randomly get giddy with excitement knowing she'll be in our arms soon ----but like I said, I have my days. Its the days where I dramatically fling myself on my bed knowing my body has forever changed. Its the days I have to turn off the TV and no longer want to be bombarded with size 2 women dancing on the tv screen. lol.

But me being me I have ways to snap myself out of funks like these. Its done by giving myself a pep talk that usually goes like this *ahem*

"STFU, this is not about you"

So I turn to websites like these

http://theshapeofamother.com/

and remind myself that we are not all able to pop out kids and look like Heidi Klum.

Baby Shower (dude, I have to update more often!)

8/15/2009. It was amazing. Sorry its taken me so long to make a post. My family and friends did an AMAZING job. The gifts I received were incredible. K, the baby and I couldn't be more happy. Here are some cute pics...

I plan on making my own baby food

I love talking to our good friend Michelle. She is always full of information and whether she knows it or not, she helps me make my mind up about potential purchases. I figured since I'll be a stay at home mom - I'll have some xtra time to make my own baby food. I already make my own dog food and its been saving me tons of $ and trips to the Petco. It also makes me feel good about helping out the environment. So I figured, what the heck right? I can make my own baby food too! I originally was going to make the baby food by using a combination of a steamer pot and my Magic Bullet. However, I did have my eyes on the above machine for a while.

After talking to Michelle (who currently has a 6 month old at home) - I realized using the "Beaba Baby Maker" was the better way to go. She gave it rave reviews and I was sold. This machine will allow me steam/grind my daughter's food all in one machine. Thus relieving me of having to use/wash two separate appliances after each use. I simply pour the purees into ice cube trays and freeze them for exact portion sizes later. We aren't granola eating, tree huggin' hippies yet (lol). However, I do find comfort in knowing my child isn't getting pumped with preservatives or fillers because I'm making my own food at home.



I'll be getting most of my recipes from WholesomeBabyFood.com. It's a great site that has a load of recipes and even has a recipe on how to make your own rice cereal! All you need is a food processor (magic bullet) and a hot pot of water to get it done!

First Bare Belly Pic

This is me at 28 weeks and 2 days. I had to crop it out as much as I could without showing too much skin. I promise I'll post a better one this week. I was about to go to bed when K says "wow, you're growing... can I take a pic?" I shamelessly accepted. I needed a belly pic :-)

Officially in the Third Trimester :-)

Ok so whether we are talking development, gestation, or conception age - I'm officially in the third trimester! I thought this trimester calculator chart was pretty cool. All you have to do is put in your LMP and voila!

On Monday, I come up on week 28. According to some third trimester charts, baby's eyes finally begin to open this week. She should be nearly 10 inches and weigh nearly 2 1/4 lbs. We'll find out her official measurements on August 10th during a scheduled growth scan. I'm so excited and can hardly wait. This is the home stretch!

Happy V-DAY to me!

Happy v-day to meeeeeee (us)! Tomorrow will be our viability day (v-day). aaaand what is that you say? Read here .

The jist of it is this : 24 weeks of gestation is used as a cut off point for hospitals for when doctors will use intensive medical intervention to attempt to save the life of a baby born prematurely. My chances now only increase week by week. Take a look at this chart :

Odds of a Premature Baby's Survival by Length of Pregnancy

Length of Pregnancy	Likelihood of Survival
23 weeks	17%
24 weeks	39%
25 weeks	50%
26 weeks	80%
27 weeks	90%
28-31 weeks	90-95%
32-33 weeks	95%
34+ weeks	Almost as likely as a full-term baby
Sources: March of Dimes, Quint Boenker Preemie Survival Foundation

Now here is a disclaimer. I don't want my baby born @ 24 weeks. Delivering premature is a scary thought. However, considering our past miscarriages - this is a huuuuuuuuge milestone for us. This is just another way to be thankful during our pregnancy as it progresses.

The picture above is her @17 weeks folks. Yes, she is wearing a tiara (lol). I thought it was fitting for the celebration.

about the baby shower....

I know a couple of posts earlier I said that my baby shower would take place back in May in Miami.......

Well, there has been a change of plans (tee-hee).

Although, we stayed there a few weeks - we got swamped. There was this huge move we needed to make. I'm talking like renting a UHAUL & driving it 830+ miles back to NC w/ an auto transport also hauling the car we originally drove down there. Although arduous, it was well worth it. It took up alot of time and planning while we were down in the MIA. My mom gave us a beautiful dining/living room set for what was over 400sq ft of empty living space we had back in our house. The planning and coordinating took up most of our time. Suffice to say, having a soiree was the last thing on our minds.

The shower is still on though!! I'm going to make a second trip to the MIA 2nd week of August. Baby shower date = TBA. I started on the registry and I'm almost done. I'm registered @ Walmart (or as my grandmas says "gu-al-mar" ). The atmosphere will BBQ style. Just relaxing and family friendly. It will also be co-ed unless of course you'd like to leave your significant other at home lol. K will be there - so I think he'll appreciate seeing another "dude" around. I've also sent my sister the names, phone # and email addresses of everyone I'd like to see there. Again, if you're reading this blog I want you there! If you think I have an outdated number or contact info for you - just email me at thepacklers@gmail.com.

Dear little one...a 22 week letter

Dear little one,

Today has been a rough day. I tried to get the tshirt machine to cut on suede vinyl and it wasn't working. In fact, I made it worse. The machine now wont work at all. I was so distraught that when I called in to trouble shoot to the manufacturer, a tech support person showed their human side. The tech was even telling me not to stress and that "everything would be ok".

Why am I blabbing on about a tshirt machine if this letter was meant to be for you? That's because I wanted to make an extra $100 this week to put it towards your nursery. I'm talking the basics here, like your crib. Don't worry, your daddy is doing fine financially. Actually, if he sees this letter - he'd rip it up and tell you that your mother is a worry wart. Which by the way, he may be right.

I just love you so much. I don't want to give you the basics, I want to give you everything possible shy of spoiling you :-). So as I sat and pondered how much money I was going to lose in this week's tshirt sales, I remembered we don't need that extra money. I use the term "need" loosely here. Will you really care if your nursery decor matched? Will you feel that we loved you any less because we didn't purchase that $300 stroller?

Me thinks you wont notice these things :-). I have a hunch that what you will be comforted by is how much your daddy and I loved you and held you. You'll know if your mommy feeds you on time and if daddy was nice enough to change your diaper from time to time. Because really, will you really care if we didn't dole out our savings on the most expensive travel system @ Babies R US ?

Little one, you're teaching me a lot already. I waited for you for such a long time and through out that journey alone - you have taught me patience. Now, you're helping me find a very much needed equilibrium in my life. You want a nice, calm, HAPPY mommy. If bringing in an extra $100 gives yields a nervous, frantic gestational host (lol) , I have hunch you'll take the latter.

woooooo zaaaaaaaaaaaa

love,
Your mommy

PS: Your daddy and I can't wait to see you. Oh and here is another thing you wont remember but read about later. Michael Jackson died today and yes, I cried. I never purchased a cd/tape or was a crazy fan but I did enjoy his music. Its just that the tshirt machine wouldn't work and now MJ dies??? I sobbed like a baby. Damn you hormones!!!!! I don't do this!!!

First belly pic- Yes, I'm silly

Alright y'all (sorry, NC is getting to me). Here I am @ exactly 5 months. I'm dressed to kill in pregnancy jeans, shirt, and seem to be squatting for God knows what reason. I actually was talking to someone on the phone, lost interest in what they had to say, and proceeded to put the phone on my armpit so the mad gabber could finish their conversation there. Don't worry, they didn't notice. Mad gabbers never really do, they think you're listening while they proceed to go off on a monologue. Whatever happened to having a conversation?

Anyhooo, my husband finds me funny (its so nice to have found someone as weird as me) - so he proceeded to take a picture. I think its a nice belly pic. I'm rounding out! YAY.

I'm about to pop soon. So I'll be needing this....

Bio Oil. Its been working thus far. My family is prone to stretch marks sooooo I hope this little bottle will be my savior. I put it EVERYWHERE. My lower back, inner thighs, boobage, and most important of all THE BELLY.

Some people swear by it... I'll let you know guys know if it lives up to the hype

***ITS A GIRL***

I'm a little late announcing it but we're going to have a baby girl! To those who voted girl - YOU WON! The majority of you voted "boy" and 'boy, were we wrong!' lol....

I swore that we were going to have a K junior and what do you know? There was no "pipi" to be found. K was secretly hoping for a girl and I was rooting for boy. But now, we are so in love with the fact that we're going to have a girl - I wake up everyday feeling like its xmas!

Time to get started on that registry!

Yes, we are pregnant!

We are happy to announce that we are expecting our first! The road hasn't been an easy one for us but nonetheless we are elated with the news :-). I'm sure all of you are dying to ask questions so I posted an FAQ per se. The FAQ was inspired by a good friend of ours Michelle who also had the same format on her blog. I thought it was precise and to the point - so I stole it! If I didn't answer somethings you wanted to know - contact us via the blog and we'll answer your questions. Alright, here we go :

• When are you due? 10/26/2009
• Are you having a boy or girl? We don't know yet. Our anatomy scan is on 05/26/2009. For kicks, we posted a poll on the left hand top corner of this blog page. Make sure to vote your guess in! K and I will make a blog post of the gender the day of the scan.
  
• Did you have morning sickness? No. Other than exhaustion and sore boobies - nausea never hit me, thank God. Sometimes there are days I forget I'm pregnant!
• Have you thought of names? K hates all the names I've picked out and I don't like any he has chosen. So I guess the answer is No. Eventually, we will have a link to all the baby names we like. We'll let you guys be the tie breaker for us. Stay tuned!
• Are you showing yet? No, not yet :) .. although I have tossed my favorite pair of jeans because they just don't fit anymore. Nonetheless, belly pics will be coming soon! Make sure to follow our blog so you are sent updates when we make new posts. I'm only in my third month and from what I gather, I wont show until later my fourth or fifth month. Click here to see how the uterus grows during pregnancy.
• Will you breastfeed? Absolutely!
• Do you have a birth plan? I will be giving birth at Duke Birthing Center. I'm on the fence about going natural instead of having an epidural. As long as my baby comes out healthy I'm willing to go any route. Some women refuse a c-section because it wasn't part of their birth plan. If it is the only option they have for a healthy delivery - I will not refuse.
  
• Why did it take you guys so long? I know it might have seemed that way to people but we didn't wait long. After getting married in Nov 07, we decided to officially start trying in late August '08. I lost two pregnancies that ended in early miscarriage. One in September '08, the other in January '09. This is my third pregnancy and thank the good Lord upstairs, we are doing fine today. My advice to girlfriends is the following : if you are beyond your mid-late twenties , prepare yourself to wait a little for your first child. Getting pregnant is not *instant* for some women. We have been taught all these years to avoid pregnancy like the plague and I guess I had become really good at it (hehe). However, don't worry unless you've had a full year of TTC and no positive HPT.
  
• When is the baby shower? Is it weird to think no one would want to come to my baby shower? I'm not trying to throw a pity party here. Well, ok..maybe I am (lol). I apologize, its the hormones. I just figured I've been away from everyone for so long - no one would want to put the effort and see the chick who visits once a year. If I know you and you got my blog - that means I'd love to see you there. My sisters and mom will be planning it. It will be in Miami. I'll keep everyone posted and send out mass e-vites to all who can make it. If you think we don't have your email, please click here