One Month Old

I can't believe Olivia turned one month old yesterday... where has the time gone?? I survived my first week alone with her and we had a great week. We took a few walks to the park and went to Babies R Us and Target. She is more and more alert every day. She still sleeps a majority of the day, but when she is awake, she really checks everything out. She is holding her head up for longer periods of time now. She also has started smiling a little more, although I'm not sure if she's smiling at us or if it's gas! :)

Here are a few pictures of our one month old:

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Jon! I am so blessed to have you as my husband, and Olivia is equally as blessed to have you as her daddy. I love you more than anything in this world. And, just when I thought it wasn't possible to love you any more, I saw your face when you first laid eyes on Olivia. That moment is forever etched into my mind, and it made me fall even more in love with you. Since that moment, you have blown me away each and every day with your love for Olivia and all that you do to help me. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm so thankful that God brought you into my life. Happy First Father's Day! I love you forever... and a day!!!

First Father's Day:


Daddy's Little Girl:

Past couple of weeks

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. As I mentioned in my last post, Jon's mom was here for a week.

Napping with Grandma Gilge:


After she left on Saturday morning, we had Olivia's pictures taken. She has been such a good baby and rarely cries, but she didn't want to cooperate with pictures. However, Audrey was able to get some really good ones. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting them uploaded, so this is the only one you get to see for now. I'll try again later.


We enjoyed the rest of the weekend just hanging out at home. Then, on Monday morning, Olivia and I took off on her first road trip. We made the trip to Arkansas for her to meet some more of my family. It would have been better if Jon had been able to go with us, but he had to work. Since he had already taken 2 weeks off, it just made more sense for Olivia and I to go alone. (Keep in mind, this was Jon's idea... However, after being gone 5 days, I think he changed his mind. He said we aren't allowed to leave again! HA! :)

Olivia did really good on the ride down there and back. She slept the majority of the way both ways, only waking up to eat and get her diaper changed. It was a really busy week, visiting with lots of people. She even "attended" her first church service. I use the word attended very loosely, as she started crying as soon as we started singing the first song. She and I spent the entire service in the nursery.

I forgot to take pictures with most of the people she met, but there are a few below. She was cranky at times... Gram thinks it's because she was sore from being passed around too much. Maybe!?!

Olivia and her cousin Abby:


With cousins Natalie and Hannah Grace:


Relaxing with Aunt Ruby:


Hanging out with Uncle Glen:
It was so great seeing everyone! If we didn't get a chance to see you, hopefully we will next time!

Swinging and Reading

Jon's mom has been in town since Monday and is staying until Saturday. The weather was rainy yesterday, so we stayed in, and Olivia spent a little time in her swing for the first time. Today was a beautiful day and Jon was able to take the day off, so we took a walk and went out to lunch. Olivia didn't make a peep, so we were able to enjoy a nice lunch. When we got back, Jon had received a bunch of baby books that he had ordered. He and Olivia spent some time looking at them and loving on each other.

Just a swingin':


Kisses from Dadddy:

Olivia and Mommy ready for lunch:

Reading with Daddy:

Big Girl

We took Olivia to the pediatrician on Friday for a weight check. As you may remember, she weighed 7lb 13oz when she was born, and 7lb 9oz 4 days later. At 10 days old, how much do you think she weighed?? Jon and I were surprised to see that she had gained almost a pound since the last pediatrician visit. She weighed 8lb 7oz! I guess there's no need to worry about if she's getting enough to eat.

It's been a rainy, cloudy couple of days here in Chicago, so we've just stayed in. Here are a few pictures from the past few days.

Olivia's First Week

Olivia's first week has been wonderful. My mom and Jon's parents were here for the birth and Jon's parents left the following day. My mom stayed until Sunday. It was great having her here and we hated to see her leave. Below are some pictures of Olivia's first week. I can't begin to tell you how blessed we feel!


One Day Old:



2 Days Old:
Ready to go home!

3 Days Old:
Amy drove up from Arkansas to meet Olivia!

4 Days Old:
Ready for her first doctor's appointment. The pediatrician said she was perfect (but we already knew that!) :) She weighed 7lb 9oz.
This is also the day of Olivia's first outing. We walked over to Charlie's on Clark St for lunch.

Getting her first bath by daddy

5 Days Old:

6 Days Old:

One Week Old:

The Birth Story

I haven't updated in a really long time, and a lot has happened since then. None of that matters now, though, because Olivia Rose Gilge has arrived! I want to make sure I remember the story of her birth, so I'm going to write it out here. This is going to be long...

As mentioned previously, my due date was May 21. At that point, I was only dilated to 1 cm, so we scheduled my next appointment for May 28 and a tentative date for inducing on May 31. My dr. (Dr. Sodini, who is FANTASTIC!) also scheduled me for a non-stress test and ultrasound on Monday, May 24. Anytime a patient goes past their due date, she does these tests to make sure the baby isn't in distress and the amniotic fluid level is okay.

On Monday morning, Jon and I went to the appointment. The non-stress test was good and showed that the baby was in good shape. The ultrasound, on the other hand, showed that the amniotic fluid level was close to reaching the minimum level that doctors will let it go. The u/s tech told us that she would be surprised if we weren't admitted to the hospital that day... She would be right. After calling Dr Sodini, the decision was made for us to go home and get our stuff and then go back to the hospital to be admitted and induced. So, we went home and got our bags. I put on some makeup and fixed my hair, thinking we would be having a baby that day and I wanted to look decent for the pictures! :) Jon was getting impatient, and I was procrastinating.

Back at the hospital around 1:00pm, we went to Labor Triage and I was hooked up to all of the monitors, etc and my IV was started. They then took me upstairs to the room we would be in for the start of the induction. Since you aren't allowed to eat once you start being induced, they brought me something to eat (Beef Goulash, of all things... not recommended!!) They started me on Cervidil at 5:00pm, and it takes 12 hours to work.


Jon and I just relaxed in the room, watched tv and talked about all that was happening. I finally fell asleep about 1:00am, and woke up at 2:00am having contractions. They were strong, but only 10-20 minutes apart. That gave me time to re-group between each of them. Jon slept through it all, waking up a couple of times to tell me "get the epidural" and go back to sleep. He doesn't remember any of that. :)


Around 5:00 Tuesday morning, I was moved to the labor and delivery room, where I would stay until Olivia was born. I was still only dilated to 1, but because the Cervidil caused strong contractions, I got an epidural at 6:00am. At 6:30am, I was started on Pitocin to help me dilate, as well as a foley balloon. Several hours later, I was dilated to 3, and Dr. Sodini broke my water. After that, the dilation seemed to improve pretty quickly.

At 8:00pm, Dr Sodini checked me and I was dilated to 9. She said she would be back to check on me at 10:00pm. Shortly after that, the contractions became painful for the first time since I had started the epidural (which I had to have re-filled twice). One of the nurses came in and asked if I felt the need to push, but I didn't. She checked me and told me to try pushing anyway. She then went and got Dr. Sodini. She came back in and we began pushing. This was at about 8:45, and Olivia made her debut at 9:12pm!! (Needless to say, after 32 hours of being in bed, my makeup and hair were no longer fixed!) :)

Jon cut the cord, and I immediately held her before the pediatric nurse took her to the other side of the room to check her. Jon went along and once the nurse finished, she handed him to Jon. I'll never forget that moment.... the way he looked at her made me fall in love with him all over again. It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

After a couple of hours of holding and loving on Olivia, along with my mom and Jon's parents, we were moved to the Mother and Baby room, where we stayed until Thursday, when we went home.

Olivia weighed 7lb 13oz and was 21 inches long. She's absolutely beautiful and we couldn't be more excited!!