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!

Update

So we went to the doctor today. Pretty much no progress. They will induce on Monday the 12th!

40 Weeks- D-day

Well, it's our due date! Unfortunately, I don't think she's coming today, despite my very long chats with her. Either which way I cannot believe it's been 40 weeks! I'm still having a hard tome believing I'm actually pregnant sometimes

Un.Im.Pressed.

That's right, I'm unimpressed. I'm not going to candy coat this people, I'm cheesed off! Oh yes... I said it! Cheesed off! Perturbed! To heck with this!

So, I'm 4 days away from my due date and although they have been saying forever that they thought I would go early, it now appears I will not. Now, 3 days before my due date my cervix is doing nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. It's going "Baby? What baby?" NO contractions (until tonight) for TWO DAYS! I feel like I'm going to lose my mind! The kid is huge! Her head is dropped! I went into preterm labor at 33 weeks, but now that I'm at the end she doesn't want to come out!

Seriously, what...the...french...toast is going on here?

Geneviéve Felice, this is your mother speaking! This is no time to play the cool kid! You don't have to show up late to your own birthday party for everyone to know how great you are!

39 Weeks

Hi all... 7 days until my due date, but my belly feels like it's about to explode. I've given our little bambina an eviction notice, but clearly she is ignoring it! Not much to say, we're still just waiting, waiting, waiting!

38 Weeks

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn I am sleepy! I am overly tired but cannot seem to ever get comfortable enough to actually sleep. We went to the doctor on friday... he said that she is a very, very active baby, somaybe she'll be a hockey player like her dad. She is measuring about 7.25 pounds and I am now on partial bed rest (which, by the way, is royally boring).

I don't think she is ever, ever coming out.

Ever.

I am going to be pregnant for-ev-er.

le sigh.

Dance Party

She's having a dance party in there, I just know it... it's so cool, but SO weird to watch her go wild in my belly...

37 Weeks

Okay people, we're officially full term and I am ready to go. The nursery is done, the bags are packed and now we're just waiting on the little one. I.Am.Ready.

Did I also mention I'm fidgety and impatient?

Maternity Leave

I am starting my maternity leave tomorrow. My due date is 3 and half weeks from now, but the stress, anxiety and strain from work is really adding to my already horrendous pain. It was really too much for me at this point so my doctor said I should start my leave ASAP and stay off my feet.

36 Weeks

So we went to our 35 week appointment this week and they're pretty sure I'm going to go early. They estimate that she weighs about 6.5 pounds at this point and that her head is way down already. They also think that we are spine-to-spine, which causes a lot of pain in my back, but our birthing coach showed me some stuff to do to get her to try to turn. Friday I REALLY thought I was going to go into labor because I was having so many contractions and was in so much back pain and discomfort but none of them were a consistent amount of time apart.

We had Kerri's shower today! Fun times! Gotta love having several preggos in 1 room... BTW, when the hell did I get fat in the face during this pregnancy. Not impressed, not impressed at all!

35 Weeks

35 weeks down, 35 days to go! I'm feeling enorrrrrrmous at this point. If one more person looks at my belly and says to me "Well you look like you're about to pop!" I may just pummel them with their own shoes. I swear, that isn't a basketball in there, although it certainly looks like one!

We're having a baby shower for my best friend who is also pregnant next weekend, and I have to show off the diaper cake I made for the centerpiece... I'm tres impressed with myself as I had never made one before and didn't follow any instructions.

34 Weeks and the nursery so far...

Still much to do on the nursery, but here are some pics of what we've done so far...

Still waiting on:
-OUr awesome rocking chair!
-Changing table pad and sage green cover
-lamp
-Bureau

You can see where we really need the table pad and cover here...















The bed... not sure whyyy the greens do not appear to match, but they do IRL
















I'm iffy about the shelf... not sure whether it has too much crap or not enough...

Maternity Photos

While most people have thought this is a cute idea, I've encountered a few people that think it's lame. Well, to each their own. I LOVE the look of my pregnant belly (and am proud of it!) and this is such a special time for us that we wanted to get get some pro pics taken. While we haven't received them all yet, our photog (the amazing Louisa Larson!) posted two of ours in her blog. The first one was a silly one, which we laughed the whole way through, and the second is artsy.

Here is the link- they are listed under Nov. 16th http://louisalarson.com/blog/

33 Weeks

Holy Moly! I just looked at our pregnancy ticker and realized we have less than 50 days to go!
I've been taking it easy but am still in some pain and very tired! We've been shopping and trying to get the last of the things we need to stock up on, but we've been from Burlington to Littleton and still can't find a lot of the stuff we need. I really don't want to order online because I would like to check the quality of stuff first, but we may have to.

Today I've been washing all of the baby stuff and trying to organize, but my belly gets in the way of everything I try to do! Oi vey :) But seriously... I'm worried she may not have enough clothes....

Hahahahah...
I didn't realize there was quite so much until today. Ahhh... like mother, like daughter...

Update

So for the past week I've been in more pain than I considered normal, but wasn't sure what was going on. Yesterday I started feeling a lot of pressure on my pelvic bone and decided to call my doctor. I was instructed to head to the OB Wing of the hospital to get checked out right away. So, Mike and I headed to the hospital not really having any idea what was happening.

It turns out that my uterus was extremely "irritated" as they said and that I was having A LOT of irregular contractions due to stress and strain on the baby and dehydration. I'm also dilated 2 centimeters, but they said they weren't overly worried about that because my cervix is still where it's supposed to be.

So, today I am at home with my tootsies up per the doctor's instructions.

32 Weeks

Happy Monday! 32 weeks yesterday and I'm starting to get ENORMOUS! At the natural food store today the cashier said to me "I can't tell if you're having a really, really huge baby or if you're just so skinny that your belly looks huge by comparison." Hmmm... not sure how to take that... lets go with option 2.

I am really enjoying our childbirth classes! Everyone in the group is due the same week as me so it's nice swapping stories and questions. This thursday in class we go on a tour of the OR in case of the need for a C-section. We watched a video of one so I am now desperately hoping I can deliver normally.

She's now turned so her head is down which is a good sign! The other night she poked me in the belly button from the inside which was so adorable! I love it!

31 Weeks

I'm in awe that we only have 9 weeks left, and starting to slightly panic over the fact that we still have yet to purchase several key items and finish the nursery! Not much to say this week as I posted only a few days ago... so I'll leave you with some of my favorite movie lines about pregnancy that have had me belly laughing this week.
Juno-
Rollo: Whats the prognosis Fertile Mertile? Plus or Minus?
Knocked Up-
Ben Stone: Look, Debbie. You are high off your a** if you think you're coming into that room. If you take one step towards that door, I will tell security there's a crazy chick in a pink dress snatching up babies, ok? So don't even try to come into that room, that's my room now. That little area with the Pepsi machine, that's your area. My room, your area, stay in your area, stay out of my room, back... the... f***... off.
9 Months:
Dr. Kosevich: I've got it! Nurse, call the Anesthesiologist, this woman needs an enema!
Samuel, Rebecca, Nurse: An enema?
Dr. Kosevich: No, uh, she needs a pedicure!
Nurse: This ain't no goddam beauty parlor!
Dr. Kosevich: Epitath!
Samuel Faulkner: She's not dead, you moron!
Dr. Kosevich: Epidermus... Uh...
Rebecca Taylor: Epidural, a**hole!

Our little pumpkin...

Happy Halloween! We just returned from our first childbirth class, which was interesting to say the least. We didn't really learn anything new this time, but it was nice to meet other first time parents due at the same time as us.

We had a Dr. appointment on Monday and she is measuring at 31 centimeters with a heart rate of 140.

While I worked a stressful job, we do have out slow days (as you can see from the picture). When left to our own devices on these days we sometimes have to get creative...

30 Weeks

10 weeks to go! We can hardly believe it! We've been busying ourselves getting the nursery ready and are starting childbirth classes this Thursday!

Right now Baby O. is approx. 16 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds. Quite a long way from the poppy seed size she once was! I keep wondering if I'm going to miss my belly (which I love!) when she comes, but I'm assuming I'll be too in love with her to care or notice!

Mike and I have been watching my belly quite a bit, and every not and again it looks like an earth quake is going on in there. It's cute and a little strange. We have yet to figure out what it means when that happens. What IS she doing in there to make my whole belly do that?

29 Weeks and "Things My Mother Never Told Me About Being Pregnant"

77 days to go people! Unfortunately I am miserably ill (non pregnancy related) for the first time since finding out about our impending arrival, and it has hit me rather hard.

Not a whole lot to report right now- she's still kicking away and growing, growing, growing. We've been playing music for her and thus far her favorites have been the more melodic Phish tunes, Bruce Springsteen and the Men Without Hats (very, very 80's) song The Safety Dance. Hmmm... quite the assortment. At least we know she doesn't discriminate in terms of genres.

Considering how large and uncomfortable I'm getting, I think today is a good time to talk about Things My Mother Never Told Me About Being Pregnant:
1. Back fat ('nuf said)
2. The increasing inability to shave my own legs successfully.
3. That babies can shove their little feet so far under your ribs that you cannot breath, laugh, sleep, sit or walk.
4. That strangers and non-strangers alike feel that it is totally appropriate to comment that I "now have a butt" or "finally got boobs."
5. Likewise for people feeling that groping my belly is welcome or appropriate

So, ladies... please share with me what YOUR mother never told you about being pregnant...