Genevieve

I knew there was a reason I never took myself off as an author of this blog after I created it! This is Alona and I'd like to share with you the photos and my thoughts/perspective on the birth of my niece, Genevieve.

Things started off at a routine OB/GYN appointment Susannah had on her due date - December 28th. Everything seemed normal, and Susannah was dilated to a 2, but the nurse thought that the baby's heart sounded sort of different.

They sent Susannah across the street to the hospital for a stress test. The people at the hospital said the heart was fine and everyone was healthy, but that Susannah was having some contractions. They monitored her and the contractions were 4 minutes apart consistently. They called Susannah's Dr. and she had Susannah walk around the hospital for an hour before they measured her again. Unfortunately, she hadn't progressed past a 2, so they decided to discharge her.

We headed back to the apartment to get things ready for Adam's birthday dinner. Also, his sister Andrea and her husband Rick and daughter Madelyn were coming up for a visit from Boise. During all this, Susannah's contractions came harder and closer together. We finished up dinner and the birthday celebration, then headed to the hospital. They admitted her close to 9:15 pm. She was dilated to a 3.

The contractions were pretty brutal, but she seemed to have some good downtime in between contractions where she could relax. Meanwhile, feeling somewhat useless, I start taking pictures out the hospital room window since we were in the beginnings of a blizzard. It was so pretty, though.

I tried to use these pictures as a way to take Susannah's mind off some of the pain she was feeling. I don't think it helped much.

Something that did seem to help her was sitting on this rubber ball. This made me laugh because Adam was rubbing her head, my mom had her shoulders, and I was rubbing her lower back.

After awhile, all the fun was gone. Her contractions never really went down - they were so bad and it broke my heart to see how bad she was hurting. My mom and I both talked about how the worst part for us was seeing her cry because it hurt so bad. After a couple of hours of these terrible contractions, she got an epidural at 1:30 am. That allowed her to rest and really helped her labor progress. They broke her water sometime around 3:00 am. She was dilated to a 6 at that point. A little after 5:00 she was 100% effaced and fully dilated so they called the Dr. Susannah started pushing at 5:30 am and Evie was born at 6:27 am. She did SO AWESOME!!!

I didn't have a very good angle for this picture, but this is right after she was born. They put her on Susannah's chest for just a minute.

The nurses then took her over to a table to get her cleaned up a little and to check to make sure everything was okay.

We were going to film with Susannah's video camera but it wasn't working, so I grabbed my little Cannon and shot a few videos right after she was born.

Here's Adam cutting the cord!

Evie did not love this process as you can see.

Sad baby!!!!!

She weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long.

I love this first picture of the family with the new addition!

I really like some of the pictures I took and just fiddled with them for a second in i photo.

Susannah was so cute with Evie. She was so excited and couldn't stop staring at her.

I loved capturing a true smile from Adam. Any of you who know my history with that guy - especially where pictures are involved - can appreciate this. It was so sweet to see his tears of joy as Evie was born and he got to hold her.

Here I am! I LOVE her!

Yay for Grandmas! I'm glad my mom and I could be there.

Poor little Evie had to go through lots of tests, shots, and check-ups.

I've never thought my sister was more beautiful then I did at this time. Evie latched right on and she was able breastfeed her right away.

So exciting!

The nurse gave Evie her first bath to get her all cleaned up. She seemed to like the warm water, but not being moved around.

We think she looks more like a Warr than a Bushman, but we can see some resemblance to Susannah too. All I know is that she is SO CUTE!

Another shot of the happy family as they are ready to move into a post partum room instead of a delivery room.

We were all pretty beat at this point. My mom and I braved the blizzard and headed to Adam and Susannah's place to shower and take naps.

We came back a few hours later for more fun and pictures. Looking back, I realized I didn't have any pictures of Evie once she really pinked up, so I had to take some more, of course!

Looking concerned.

Hungry?

Loving the beanie. I can't wait to play dress-up when she gets to come home!

So sweet!

The hospital provided a little dinner for two for these guys. My mom and I watched Evie while they ate.

She slept most of the time, but was ready for mom after about 40 minutes. She was hungry and we couldn't help her with that problem!

Adam was tuckered out. We were watching a movie.

I loved their movie watching positions!

I LOVED this day even though it was so crazy! I'm so excited and know Susannah and Adam are even more excited! I'm sure Susannah will post more later with her thoughts, but I wanted to do this for her so she could spend her time recovering and enjoying her new baby!

Christmas Tree

Adam and I decided that it would be fun to go and cut down our own Christmas tree this year. I've never done it before and was really excited! It only cost $5 to get a permit. Awesome!

Brett was kind enough to accompany us. We left at 3:00 in the afternoon and only went about 30 minutes away. You'd think we'd have a little more light. Tis not so in northern Idaho. We walked around looking for the perfect tree.

I'm not sure this one is "perfect" but it was pretty dark and we still didn't have a tree. This one we all agreed would be a good one.

I'm just offering moral support with my hack saw! Do you like how just under my belly is dry?!

It was a really light tree! Even I could heft it with one arm!

The boys tied it down and we headed home.

Here is our cute little "Charlie Brown" tree all decorated. The branches were only strong enough to hold the cranberries and oranges and the lights. The rest of the ornaments will have to wait for next year! I like our tree!

Merry Christmas!

Potlatch Christmas

We had a fun and festive weekend this weekend. We heard about a light parade and fireworks show in Potlatch, Id. We thought we'd go check it out.

Here is Santa on one of the floats.

Here are some other floats making their way down the road. The theme was a Redneck Christmas. The parade was shorter than usual, but my guess would be because the weather was pretty snowy and wet.

After the parade they were serving chili and apple cider in the library. We went and got some food and then headed outside for the fireworks. I've never seen fireworks in the snow before. It was really fun.

I ran into one of my cute little preschoolers there. Adam was "impressed" with how chatty she was! After the fireworks they had Santa reading stories in the library and Christmas music.

They also had the park in town decorated and all lit up. This old train engine was our favorite.

Here we are!! Neither of us could find our usual hats so we wore our matching meathead hats that I made. I think we're adorable! I'm glad that we went to the festivities. We'll definitely go next year if we're around.

Baby Shower

While we were in Boise for Thanksgiving mine and Adam's families put together a baby shower. It was a lot of fun. It made me feel like this is really going to happen! I'm getting really excited. My sister did a really good job of documenting it. If you would like to see pictures of that (and Thanksgiving) click here.

Last weekend my friends Hailey and April threw me a baby shower here in Moscow. It was also a lot of fun. I love all this baby stuff.

April decided to throw it at the McConnell mansion here in town. It was incredible. I had never been there before and it was such a fun setting.

The shower was a "Tea Party". We had herbal tea and delicious finger foods.

It made me happy that Linda, from my preschool, dressed up. She is a woman after my own heart!

This is my favorite picture from the shower though! Who knew Hilary was such a poser? She is adorable!

Here are my two amazing hostesses!

Look at that dress...it's adorable!

April knit me that monkey that Katie is holding. She loved it as much as I do! April even put rice in the bottom and the feet so it can sit up. I love it!!

Thanks to April and Hailey for a very memorable shower. I really do feel so loved and blessed to have such good friends and family.

**On a slightly side note, I went to the doctor today and I am still not dilated at all. Things are still progressing and she is growing and has a good heart beat. Only 2.5 weeks till the due date!