Friday, January 16, 2009

She's here!! Geneviéve's birth story...


She has arrived!

Geneviéve Felice Olmstead was born via c-section at 7:04 PM on Wednesday, January 7th.
She weighed 6lbs 11oz and is 20 inches long.

Our little sweet pea is the light of our lives...we are enjoying every single second with her!

So on Monday the 5th I went to the doctor and he told me I really had not progressed at all. About an hour later I started experiencing what I assumed was cramps at first, but turned out to be back labor. It wasn't really regular intervals so I didn't think much of it although it did keep me up most of the night. The next day it died off a bit while my parents were here from Charlotte to go to lunch with us. I had been having suspicions by this point that perhaps it was back labor and debated telling my parents to stay, but didn't.

After lunch it started becoming more and more intense and regular. By 11 PM they were 5 minutes apart and lasted a minute each. I have to say, I don't know why I didn't go in then, the pain was unbearable! Honestly, the pain was worse than anything I ever could have imagined- I couldn't even stand up. At 6 AM we went to the hospital and it was indeed back labor! By the time we got there I was 5cm dilated and fortunately was able to get my epidural almost immediately.

I felt horrible that my parent had gone home the day before because by this time there was freezing rain, etc. They headed out anyway and fortunately made it safely. Two of my best friends also joined us until I was ready to push which was nice and distracting!

I pushed for 3 and a half hours with no change. They tried the vacuum and it made no difference. It turns out my pelvis just wasn't big enough for her to get through and they decided to do a C-Section.

I have never, ever had surgery for anything and got really scared right before going in, but Dr. Stuart was great! Because of the anesthesia I wasn't able to take deep breaths and that combined with my arms being strapped down and all the drugs totally made me freak out. They were great though and very reassuring!

The pain from the c-section was worse than I thought it would be, but the nursing staff was wonderful!

We took her to her first appt. with her pediatrician today and she's doing well! She now weighs 7lbs 3oz!

1 comment:

Stacey said...

I understand what you are saying about the C-Section stuff. Sometimes people are so foolish to think it's the easy way out--but there's so much more to it. It's a painful process and a painful heal. I'm sure Mike, family and friends are taking good care of you though. Your daughter is beautiful Lindsey. Congratulations and God Bless.