8 months

At eight  months:

Weight:  15.5 pounds

        Percentile: 9%

Height:  26.5 inches 

        Percentile: %

Sleep: It's gone back and forth. Emma is suddenly napping great. Thanks mostly to my sister in law most naps you can just lay her down and she'll fall asleep on her own and sleep for 2-3 hours, which has been life changing. But night time still has sucked. I'm usually up every 3 hours with her unless Colton sleeps with her on her bedroom floor and then she'll sleep most the night. Most mornings about 5 am she ends up in our bed because I'm too tired to keep fighting her anymore at that point. We've also started swaddling her at night. It's not my favorite, but that's how she naps and when you don't she refuses to fall asleep and just flings her arms around trying to play and it gets so frustrating fast. I've also never seen a kid move less in their sleep. Literally I've never seen her roll and she's almost always exactly in the same spot as I put her down in so I'm not terribly worried about the swaddle. 
Clothing size: 3-6 months. and size two diapers still. She is getting a little long for some of the clothes, like footie pajamas, etc,  but I did put her in some 6-9 month jammies and they drown her. 

Milestones: Emma is rolling everywhere like a fiend. She loves being more mobile so much and will spend hours just rolling around the living room. She definitely not close to crawling yet but I'm okay with that. She also is sitting up completely unsupported and doing great with that. She can now stand better too with very little support, but still only for a short period of time.  

Special Outings: I honestly don't think we went anywhere this month. Just to the store, papa and mimie's house, grandma and grandpa's house, and out to eat. 

Month Highlights: Emma is basically in love with Elli right now. She thinks she's hilarious and is constantly laughing at her and squeaking. I love it so much! It's so fun that they can be best friends now and I hope their relationship will continue to grow and get stronger. Emma also says mom when she's mad in addition to hi. 

Big Changes: Mostly so much more mobility, talking more, and eating more food, sitting up more. Also laughing a ton as well. 

Emma's Favorites:  Food. She loves food, music, making noise, her sister, her cousin Kam, sitting up and looking around, water including baths, showers, swimming and drinking

Thoughts: I can't believe how fast time is flying by. This little one was just born and now she's been out almost as long as she was in. It needs to slow down!! I can't believe how happy she is now. She's always smiling and waving at everyone she sees. I love it.  She is such a bright spot in my life that I can't imagine not having. Though I wouldn't mind if she'd actually start to sleep a little better.

6 months

At five months:

Weight:  13.5 pounds

        Percentile: 9%

Height:  26 inches 

        Percentile: 67%

Sleep: Blah...things were going so good but then halfway through this month all of the sudden Emma started sleeping terrible. We had two very rough exhausting weeks and I'm not really sure what to do about it especially since naps have not improved either.
Clothing size: Still 0-3 months (even still fits in some newborns) but we moved up to size 2 diapers because she kept having blow outs so we are trying to figure out a way to keep those to a minimum. 

Milestones: Sitting up with less support, holding up her head during tummy time, smiling and giggling more, talking up a storm

Special Outings: We went to the circus in town, which Emma slept through, to the park a few times, we went to the July Jamboree and Emma loved sitting up in the stroller and seeing everything going on. We went to the parade for the fourth of july with my family, and spent lots of time with grandparents.

Month Highlights: Emma got her shots this month and was only a little fussy a few hours after but overall she did pretty good with them. She loves to play with Elli and there relationship is starting to blossom more and more.

Big Changes: Not any really big changes this month, Emma naps less, is still the happiest kid ever, but is sleeping worse at night.

Emma's Favorites: Chickens. They make her laugh really hard. She loves sitting up, going outside, baths, crinkly books, and chewing on a toothbrush. She also still loves being worn in the k'tan.

Thoughts: Emma is such a joy. She can be a pretty dramatic child going from big smiles to screaming and back again in a matter of seconds. She loves to be able to look around and stand and sit up. She loves her sister and her cousins and everyone that sees her comments on how incredibly happy she is. I miss her like crazy being back at work but it's also good to get out more. I am so excited to start feeding her food and have to stop myself from doing it almost daily, I also am super grateful that my sil can watch her and love the relationship she is building with her cousins. She loves putting things in her mouth so I think she's going to do really good with baby led weaning and I hope it makes her less picky then her sister. She seriously is my favorite baby ever right now and I love interacting with her.

Five months

At five months:

Weight:  

        Percentile: %

Height:  inches 

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Sleep: Blah...things were going so good but then halfway through this month all of the sudden Emma started sleeping terrible. We had two very rough exhausting weeks and I'm not really sure what to do about it especially since naps have not improved either.
Clothing size: Still 0-3 months (even still fits in some newborns) but we moved up to size 2 diapers because she kept having blow outs so we are trying to figure out a way to keep those to a minimum. 

Milestones: Sitting up with less support, holding up her head during tummy time, smiling and giggling more, talking up a storm

Special Outings: We went to the circus in town, which Emma slept through, to the park a few times, we went to the July Jamboree and Emma loved sitting up in the stroller and seeing everything going on. We went to the parade for the fourth of july with my family, and spent lots of time with grandparents.

Month Highlights: Emma got her shots this month and was only a little fussy a few hours after but overall she did pretty good with them. She loves to play with Elli and there relationship is starting to blossom more and more.

Big Changes: Not any really big changes this month, Emma naps less, is still the happiest kid ever, but is sleeping worse at night.

Emma's Favorites: Chickens. They make her laugh really hard. She loves sitting up, going outside, baths, crinkly books, and chewing on a toothbrush. She also still loves being worn in the k'tan.

Thoughts: Emma is such a joy. She can be a pretty dramatic child going from big smiles to screaming and back again in a matter of seconds. She loves to be able to look around and stand and sit up. She loves her sister and her cousins and everyone that sees her comments on how incredibly happy she is. I miss her like crazy being back at work but it's also good to get out more. I am so excited to start feeding her food and have to stop myself from doing it almost daily, I also am super grateful that my sil can watch her and love the relationship she is building with her cousins. She loves putting things in her mouth so I think she's going to do really good with baby led weaning and I hope it makes her less picky then her sister. She seriously is my favorite baby ever right now and I love interacting with her.

4 months

At four months:

Weight: 

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Height:  inches

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Sleep: Naps are still a struggle. She just doesn't like to sleep during the day. But she has gotten better at night and sleeps from 9 or 10 until 5 or six, eats and then goes back to sleep for a few hours most nights. It's been nice to feel so much more human. 
Clothing size: Still wearing 0-3 month clothes and size one diapers. She's still tiny.  

Milestones: Smiling more, laughing, starting to try and pick up her head when doing tummy time,

Special Outings: My sister in Law Stephanie has started to watch Emma while Colton is at work. So far it's only been for a few hours, but it's been going really good so far. We also took Emma's blessing pictures and that went good even though she stubbornly refused to wear her hat for them. 

Month Highlights: I went back to work, Emma is doing great with a bottle and sleeping better, I miss her like crazy though. 

Big Changes: Emma is the happiest kid ever now. You would never guess that she had been such a grump before this because she almost never fusses. She is doing great at taking a bottle while I'm at work which has been really nice and she is over her nursing strike now and almost never has any problems. 

Emma's Favorites: Eating anything she can get into her mouth, grabbing everything, playing with her hands, smiling at everyone. She also still loves bath time and taking showers with her mom. 

Thoughts: I can't believe how fast Emma is growing. She is such a joy now and almost always happy. She seems behind a bit on her gross motor skills to me and will barely pick up her head at all during tummy time but the doctor doesn't seem at all concerned about it so I guess she just needs a little more time and practice to figure it out. I love watching Elli with her and even more so now that Emma is starting to interact a little bit with her. They are going to be the cutest little sisters. I seriously love this little girl and can't even imagine life now before she came. She fits in our family just perfectly.

Two Months

At two months:

Weight: 8 lbs 15 ounces

        Percentile: 11%

Height: 22.5 inches

        Percentile: 62%

Sleep: Her naps have been a little rough, but night times she does pretty good. Most nights she does okay with getting herself to sleep and she always puts herself back to sleep after nursing in the middle of the night. She usually sleeps about six hours, eats, then sleeps for two or three more. Naps are hard because she only will sleep in her car seat or your arms for any serious length of time, which the car seat makes me nervous so it's a little difficult to get good naps in.
Clothing size: Still in Newborn. We went up to size one diapers just for nighttime though because she was starting to have blowouts in the morning. 

Milestones: Picking up her head, smiling, starting to coo more

Special Outings: We went hiking a few times, out to eat, grandparents house, and to her two month doctors appointment.

Month Highlights: Month two was fairly difficult like month one was. Emma does not handle growth spurts well, and was very fussy. Although towards the end of the month she started to relax and smile a ton. As she started smiling her fussiness because much easier. 

Big Changes: She is getting so much more aware this month, it's been fun to watch her start to respond to us as we talk to her.

Emma's Favorites: bath time, her car seat, sitting up and bouncing, being talked to and smiled at, watching the fan

Thoughts: while Emma hasn't been the easiest baby this month, she is starting to get a sweet little personality and every time she gets a big smile at me it makes all the moments of crankiness so much more worth it. I'm grateful that I'm able to be home with her still for awhile because she is becoming such a wonderful little light. We are going on some big trips next month so I'm anxious to see how she'll do with those things since she's kind of cranky. I love watching Elli with her because Elli loves her so much. I was worried how she would do adjusting to having a sibling but Elli adores her so much that it really hasn't been an issue. Emma really just fits so perfectly in our family. So much though that it seems like she was always here and sometimes I forget that she's just brand new.

One Month

At one month: 

Weight: Emma weighs 7 pounds and 9 ounces

        Percentile: 34%

Height: 19.5 inches

        Percentile: 85%

Sleep: For the most part has been pretty rough. The longest stretch at night has been about 4 hours but usually it's been between two and three hours. She slept a ton the first two weeks that she was home and still sleeps a lot during the day reaching about 3 and a half hour stretches sometimes if I don't wake her up.
Clothing size: Still in Newborn. It's going to be a little while still in them because she is very petite. 

Milestones:Getting passed her jaundice, picking up her head

Special Outings: Doctor's appointments, parents and grandparents houses, shopping at the store, the park with her sister, and even out to eat at denny's, we actually started going back to sacrament at 3 weeks old because I couldn't stand just sitting around the house anymore. She's just stayed in her carseat for most of these, but it's nice to get out of the house.

Month Highlights: To be honest, this month hasn't been easy. The first two weeks of Em's life were spent trying to nurse as much as possible to make sure she got passed her jaundice and then around week three we hit a growth spurt and some colic so things have been a little stressful. 

Big Changes: Breastfeeding is going great, she has already grown and changed a massive amount. and she's gone from sleeping non-stop to being pretty fussy when she's not sleeping. She definitely is a colicky baby at this point.

Emma's Favorites: Being held upright against your chest, eating, having a clean diaper, and crying.

Thoughts: While I absolutely adore Emma, this month has been far from easy. Learning to take care of two babies while recovering has been difficult. Luckily Colton was off for two weeks after she was born and that helped a ton. When she was three months old Emma got really fussy and screamed a lot and so we have been trying to work through that but mostly I'm exhausted. I've been making sure I pump every day to have a freezer stash when I go back to work and have been pretty successful with that and have about 100 ounces frozen so far. We haven't given her a bottle yet but am planning on doing it this week. I have loved watching Elli with her though. She completely adores her. Every chance she gets she's laying on the floor by her and kissing her and it's just the cutest thing ever. I can't wait until Emma is finally able to really start responding to Elli because it's going to be the cutest. The emotional tranisition has been much easier for me than I expected. Emma just feels like she belongs here and has always been a part of our family. She definitely is a sweet but strong little spirit and we couldn't love her any more than we do now.

Three Months

At three months:

Weight: 

        Percentile: %

Height:  inches

        Percentile: %

Sleep: Emma fights naps like nothing else. I don't know what it is about my kids but they hate sleeping during the day so much. She sleeps great at night, goes right to sleep on her own basically, and falls right back to sleep after nursing. She usually wakes up only one or two times a night so it's not too bad. She still hasn't slept longer than about six hours at a time more than once or twice, but getting up once really isn't too bad and I'm pretty used to it by now. I'm dreading the four month sleep regression because she really struggles with growth spurts. 
Clothing size: Still in newborn but starting to wear some 0-3 month clothes towards the end of the month. We switched to size one diapers about half way through the month. They still drown her, but she was starting to have way too many blowouts in newborns so it was time. 

Milestones: Smiling a ton, starting to be able to sit up better with less support, not even close to rolling yet because we don't push tummy time as often as we should, I'm convinced she is already teething and swear I can feel a tooth coming in even though no one else can. But she is biting, drooling, and more cranky somedays. I guess we'll have to see.

Special Outings: This was a busy month, we went to Salt Lake for a review of Colton's licensing exam, so Emma got her very first long car ride, her first time staying in a hotel, and her first time swimming. She did great on the car ride and in the hotel and she absolutely loved the pool. I love that both of my kids are water babies, it's so fun. Then we went to San Diego, which was good, but towards the end Emma was getting pretty sick of being in the car. She was so cranky on the drive back. But the k'tan was worth it's weight in gold because everytime we did any outing, like the beach or sea world we just stuck her in it and she would fall right to sleep and sleep for hours. It made it so worth it. Then after getting home from our trip we went back to Salt Lake for Colton's graduation from his Master's program. We are so proud of him for that! And then just the last sunday before she turned three months old Emma was blessed in church so she got to wear a beautiful dress and meet all of Colton's aunts and uncles. It was a very busy month, but a very good one. 

Month Highlights: This month was easier than last month. Emma is still kind of cranky, but is also so happy sometimes that I can't even handle how adorable her smiles are. She starting to talk more and more and getting a variety of different sounds as well. 

Big Changes: Emma is a very extreme child. She lets you know how she's feeling and is either incredibly happy or incredibly mad without much in between. She had a big shift in her nursing this month that has been a little hard for me. She nurses great during the night and if I nurse her right after naps, but if she has been awake for awhile and is tired and needs to eat she gets so mad and refuses to nurse. She just screams bloody murder anytime I try which can get a little hard because she is often awake too long during the day because she refuses to nap until she's exhausted often. After our trip to California she doesn't love the car seat as much anymore but still does okay when you go freeway speeds.

Emma's Favorites: Emma loves the water, swimming, baths, the works. They are her favorite. She loves being in the k'tan carrier to nap and will sleep for hours in it. She loves ceiling fans, kicking on the ground for a few minutes, and looking around. She loves being held under the arms and then bouncing even though it scares her just a little bit.

Thoughts: We have kind of gotten into a groove with things this month and it is much better. She is still kind of a cranky kid, but she's also so happy in between sometimes. She's just kind of dramatic I think. She goes from so happy to so mad in about ten seconds if she's tired. It's been an adjustment but we are getting used to it. I go back to work next week and am literally dreading every second that I'm going to have to leave her because even on her hardest days she still really lights up my life so much already. I can't wait until she is big enough to really respond to Elli because Elli is completely in love with her and just loves her (quite aggressively) every chance she gets. I love watching the two of them. I'm anxious about how her nursing strike thing is going to be affected by me going back to work and her getting bottles more often. But I just have to hope for the best and keep trying to nurse as much as I can.

Meeting Everyone and Hospital Stay

Somehow, I was terrible and missed getting pictures of my Dad, Jake, and Sarah holding her for the first time, so that sucks! But here's the ones we do have.


Meeting big sister Elli


Hospital stay


Mimie



Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Suzanne


Adam and Stephanie

Welcome to the World Emma Claire

Last Belly picture taken in between contractions

SHE'S HERE!!!

Emma Claire Savage

Born on February 13, 2017 at 10:40 am

6 pounds 5 ounces, 18 inches long

I can't believe we are at the point where I am sitting down to write out her birth story! In many ways I feel like my pregnancy just completely flew by. In some ways I feel like I have been pregnant forever because I kind of feel like I have been pregnant since January rather than May, but overall it has gone by very fast. And really, I am very, very much in love with this new little life.

I have been having a feeling for several weeks that I wouldn't make it to my due date. Somehow, I don't really know how, I just knew. I even changed around my shifts at work, meaning that I worked 72 hours in 7 days, which was really rough on both me and and Colton, but it just felt like the right thing to do. So we switched it all around and I worked. I had my 39 week appointment on Thursday, and once again decided not to get checked. I still had three shifts left and I think knowing I was dilated would make me too stressed out to handle it. I pretty much just spent every minute praying that I could make it though all my shifts and not go into labor at work. My mom was in training on Sunday and so we were praying a little extra that she would wait until Sunday evening.

I made it through my last shift on Saturday actually feeling pretty good. Sunday I just felt pressure to make sure we were ready. I think I knew it was coming. So we made sure that the whole house was clean and all of the last minute chores that I wanted done were taken care of. I took belly pictures even though it wasn't a day I normally would, made Colton paint my toenails (I wanted to get a pedicure on Monday if I was still pregnant but decided to have him paint them anyway) and snuggled Elli a little longer in her bed than I usually do. We went to bed a little late but I fell right to sleep.

I woke up about 3-330 in the morning starting to have contractions. I think then I knew that this was going to be it, but I timed them for awhile anyway. After about 45 minutes I decided they weren't going away and so I got up and dressed and hung out for awhile. I woke Colton up at about 530 and he called his mom to come over with Elli and jumped in the shower. Jill got there and we headed to the hospital. It kind of broke my heart to leave while Elli was still asleep knowing that this was most likely my very last moments with her as my only baby. But we got to the hospital around 630. Since I was group B strep positive and needed antibiotics they just basically admitted me before they even checked me. I was checked at about 7 and was dilated to 4.5 cm and about 70% effaced. They hooked me up to the monitors and started my IV antibiotics, and my mom started over as well.

Just before 8 Dr Gatherum came in, checked me again, broke my water, and placed an internal contraction monitor (which was seriously the most annoying thing ever). I was sadly still at only a 4.5 and not any further effaced. My contractions were a little less consistent at this point so I wasn't horribly upset yet by that but a little disappointed that nothing had happened yet. My mom got there just after that and I just worked on getting through contractions and joked around with her.

By 9 my contractions were getting a little more painful, if not any closer together. They checked me again and super disappointing, I was still sitting at only 4.5 cm. We were going to try walking around to see if they could get things going more but at that point they decided to start me on a very low dose of pitocin to see if they could get me to dilate any more. I really wanted to have this baby without an epidural, but I have to admit at that point I was seriously considering getting one because I was so disappointed that nothing had really happened yet and all of the painful contractions I had been having weren't doing anything. I just wasn't sure I wanted to be doing that for hours and hours on end, especially with all the horror stories I have heard about pitocin contractions. They got the pitocin set up and started running it at about 930 (the exact timeline is a little hazy for me because it felt like I was on pitocin forever!).

Once they started the pitocin things started into a whole new level. My contractions immediately went to two minutes apart and a whole different world of painful. After each one I was dizzy, hot, sweaty, and nauseous. I even threw up after one of the first ones (which was awful). They got me a fan and Colton kept an ice cold wash cloth on my face which really helped but it was horrible. With each one I was seriously almost crying wondering why I had done this to myself and asking if I was going to get through it. My mom, Colton, and the nurse were awesome though at talking me through it, telling me to tell myself that I can do it and telling me when my contractions were peaking so I knew they were about over. My next dose of antibiotics was due at 11, so at maybe 1030, maybe a little before I'm not quite sure, the nurse was going to check me again because my contractions were so close. Before she did I asked to go to the bathroom. After making sure that I just needed to urinate and that I didn't feel any urge to push, which I didn't at that point, we decided that I would go to the bathroom and then she would check me. I was determined when she checked me that if I hadn't made significant progress that I was going to ask for an epidural because it was definitely not easy.

I got up and into the bathroom, sat down and had another contraction. And with that contraction, suddenly my body was pushing and I couldn't make it stop. The nurse ran out the door, shouted for another nurse and then her and Colton basically pulled me standing and the nurse checked my cervix while I was standing. She quickly said I was complete, and rushed me back into bed while the other nurse called my doctor.

I suddenly found myself in bed, yelling and screaming like I don't think I ever have before in my entire life. It was the most bizarre sensation and so different than anything I have ever experienced before in my life, definitely a whole different experience than when Elli was born. The nurses were trying to get me to not push so the doctor had time to get there and get ready but I literally was not capable of stopping it. My body was pushing despite anything I did.

They talk about the ring of fire when the baby is crowning. I most definitely experienced that this delivery, and yelled quite loudly at the doctor about it because to me it felt like whatever he was doing was making it worse. And honestly everything else is kind of a blur. I couldn't tell you how many times I pushed because none of my pushes were coordinated or anything, my body just did what it did. Then the doctor finally got my attention enough to tell me that her head was out and that I needed to look.

So I finally looked down and there she was. My little baby. And she was tiny. I believe that is the first thing I actually said was "She's so small, how big is she." and then she was out and on my chest and it was a different feeling than I've ever experienced before. I've been so worried about bonding with this baby. I haven't felt anything really during my pregnancy that was like with Elli and I have been worried about being able to love another baby as much as I do Elli, but in that moment I didn't really worry anymore. Suddenly she was mine, my beautiful tiny little girl. I held her for quite awhile while they cleaned her up, cut the cord and stitched me up and then they took her to clean her up.

It was an insane labor, I didn't honestly realize the timeline or how fast everything happened until later that day when my brother told me about the texts he had received about it. I'm super grateful that it was quick because it certainly was plenty painful even during that short time. It's funny though, for some reason, in my head, a natural delivery would be a more peaceful one. This definitely wasn't peaceful, by any means, and I think everyone, myself included saw a side of me that no one has ever seen before, but it was definitely empowering and an amazing experience to get to feel my body doing what it was made for without any direct control from me. And we are all so incredibly happy that she's here. I think Colton said it best, it doesn't really feel different, it just feels like she fit into a niche in our family that we didn't know was there needing to be filled.