Welcome to the world, Genevieve!

She’s here, she’s here!!!

Genevieve Sloane Smith made her debut promptly, on her due date, February 15th, 2011 at 5:39 p.m.  The staff at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines loved her story because they said nearly 90% of all deliveries are scheduled – either via induction or c-section, and nearly none of them so punctual.  I had been telling everyone that she would not be late – she would either be early or on-time, and she did not disappoint her mama!  (As a side note, Jeremy and I had another discussion about whether she would have any hair – I said yes, he said no – another battle sadly lost by Dad 😉 ).  Labor lasted only 5 hours, although we were in the hospital for nearly 17 hours before she was born.  Long story short, we went in with contractions that were 3.5 minutes apart at 1:30 a.m. and when put on the fetal monitor, we discovered she was great while awake, but “lazy while asleep.”  So, they kept us until morning rounds, at which time they broke my water and we got moving, and quickly!  Here’s our first family photo after her delivery:

Our time in the hospital was great, and we had a wonderful experience at Mercy.  It went by so fast, and before we knew it, we were home and on our own!  We have spent this week trying to learn our new routine and here are some highlights of the week:

The first bath was anxiety-producing, for this first-time mom and for Genevieve.  She is not a fan, which makes me not a fan.  However, my daughter provided some much needed comic relief by pooping on Jeremy before she even hit the water – it went all the way down his arm, his shirt, the kitchen counter, and the cabinets.  From there on out, we spent more time laughing than worrying. 

Genevieve loves her hands!  From her 16-week ultrasound, we learned that she liked to have her pointer finger out in a “number 1” style gesture, and would suck on that finger also:

She still does this!  It is funny that you can discover things about a baby’s personality before they ever even make their grand entrance!

Genevieve is a champion eater.  Born at 8 pounds even, she was down to 7 pounds 13 ounces when we left the hospital, and 7 pounds 12 ounces at her first visit to the pediatrician.  However, as of today’s Mommy and Me breastfeeding class, she is up to 8 pounds 7 ounces.  She is growing quickly it seems, and Daddy says she already has chubby cheeks!  🙂

We can’t decide who she looks like, and that’s okay with us.  Obviously, the dark hair resembles both of us.  Some say that she looks like Jeremy in the eyes and nose, and me in the mouth.  Her eyes, though, are still blue, so we will see if that remains true as she keeps growing.  Either way, she is too cute for words and we are absolutely smitten.

Week 38 of the Neverending Pregnancy

Working on week 38 here. 

Boredom has set in.  We have finished all of our baby get-ready tasks, so now we are trying to enjoy our last few days (weeks?) as just us.  It makes me a little sad – we are pretty great just together.  But we are excited and ready for this next chapter in our lives! 

To keep me busy (and probably from getting on his nerves, since I am a little restless and a lot pissy), Jeremy has encouraged couponing, since life as the three of us is sure to be more expensive than life as the two of us.  Poor man – he had no idea what he started.  I am now a proud user of Ebates (get paid to shop online without a catch or a fee – which, let’s face it, I am going to do whether I get cash back or not – you should really have seen Jeremy’s face when the latest shipment from Baby Gap arrived), SwagGrabber, Living Social, and Groupon, among others. 

In the past week, I have gotten a local zoo membership for the family at 50% off plus 3.0% cash back, bought a $50 humidifier for baby’s room for free plus actually MADE $15.52 in benefits on that deal (free shipping + $50 gift certificate to restaurant.com + 12% cash back + $5 off an order of $30 or more), picked up $40 worth of Amazon gift cards for $20, sent flowers using a 25% off coupon + 20% cash back, and scored $25 gift certificates to local restaurants for $3.00 on restaurant.com (80% off plus 15% cash back).  I have also scored free Redbox rentals and free Ziploc baggies.  I love to pass these deals on to others too, and hear about them from others!  I will seriously never shop online again without Ebates!  If you have not discovered the joy of cash back from online shopping, feel free to check out the link, and when you make your first online purchase we’ll both get $5.00:

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=ihhXdwII1cIsxykILLW9aw%3D%3D

In baby news, at this past week’s appointment (we go every Wednesday now), we had made a little progress at least!  No dilation, but 50% effaced.  I’ll take it over nothing!  For the record, Jeremy is not a fan of the public discussion of the state of my cervix.  But it kind of comes with the territory I think when you are pregnant.

Feet.

Feet are nasty.  Some people have a foot fetish.  Others just don’t mind them.  Me, I think they are, in general, rather gross. 

Take my husband’s feet for example.  He has big feet and huge toes.  They are hairy.  And his little toe, much to his dismay, is rather bulbous.  Like an onion.  He is not a fan of the fact that I have pointed this out.   Myself, I have a second toe that looks like E.T.  I think the worst job on the planet would be a pedicurist (is that an actual title?  “Hello, I’m Sarah, and I’ll be your pedicurist today.”  Hmmmm…I don’t know).  You could not pay me enough to touch people’s feet, and let’s face it, they are not in a cute state when they arrive.  Trying to make most people’s feet look cute is probably the equivalent of trying to polish a turd, so in short, a totally thankless job. 

I had to tell you all this to get to the pregnancy-related point, which is that I myself believe that, by and large, I have escaped having nasty feet syndrome.  Other than E.T., I happen to think I have rather cute feet.  Small toes, not hairy, not quite dainty, but you get the picture.  But, oh pregnancy, you managed to have even stolen this from me.  Because as of week 35, I have made the earth-shattering discovery that I, in fact, have joined the nasty feet community.  I now appear to have the feet of a 65-year-old diabetic.  Swollen, puffy, slightly reddish, and little sausage toes.

5 weeks to go.

We’ve Survived 33 Weeks of Pregnancy!!!!

This may really seem like no big deal to those of you who have never been pregnant, or been intimately acquainted with someone who is/was pregnant.  But, take it from us:  it’s no small feat!!  In our case, combining an uber-type A first-time Mom with a logical and laidback first-time Dad, makes for a very interesting recipe. 

Throughout this pregnancy, I (Mom – Amanda) have tested his (Dad’s – Jeremy’s) patience with my hypocondriasis, neurosis, and ever-fluctuating emotions.  Although health-wise I have been very lucky and remained mostly morning sickness and ache and pain-free, I dwell on the rare possibilities of illnesses that might befall me and my unborn child, such as listeriosis, toxoplasmosis, and carbon monoxide and chlorine gas poisoning among other things.  I have burst out in tears in a public restaurant after discovering potentially unpasteurized feta in my pasta that was ominously omitted from the list of ingredients on the menu.  I have slyly purchased a fourth carbon monoxide detector for the house when I was convinced the first three were not doing their jobs, despite a visit from the poor man from the energy company who diligently and earnestly endeavored to convince me otherwise (Jeremy was not amused).    I have forced the cashier at Starbucks to produce the carton of milk that would be used to make my hot chocolate to ensure pasteurization and then allowed her to proceed with making the drink after receiving confirmation, only to fret over the cleanliness of the containers used to brew it, which subsequently ruined the whole chocolate yummy goodness experience anyway.  Go ahead and roll your eyes if you must, but I promise to share my temporary insanity (and Jeremy’s resulting calm and understanding perspective) in perfect honesty. 

Anxiety, I promise, is not the only thing that defines our journey with our first child.  But it makes it a little more funny.  Along with the hilarity, we will also share our joy in welcoming our little girl with you.  We hope you enjoy the ride!