Home Sweet Home

After spending a lovely day at Abbott yesterday and introducing Holden to many new friends, we made the decision to go home. We had debated spending an extra night just to relax, but upon realizing that we would most likely be woken up less by Holden than by nurses if we were at home, we decided to be discharged. Upon receiving clearance from our pediatrician, a midwife, and clear hearing and CCHD screens, we packed up our room and got in the car. I do want to point out that our room in the Mother-Baby Center at Abbott-Northwestern was beautiful. We had an iPod dock, a large flat screen TV, a fold out sofa-bed, a glider, and a large bathroom. We really can't say enough good things about our experience in the hospital. (We would like to request that they add valet parking and improve their phone signal. Our car sat running for three hours--yes, three hours--in their drop-off because I was too far into labor for Robin to leave and there was no nearby place to park, and we both struggled to receive or make phone calls and text messages. Also, our car was perfectly fine when our doula Brook went down and moved it at 10:30.)

Anyway, we headed home around dinner time. As we got into the car, I felt a wave of adrenaline--excitement, disbelief, and fear all mixed together--realizing that we were actually taking another baby home. I had a brief "maybe we should have stayed" moment and then realized that this first night home just needed to happen. We got home, got situated on the sofa, and ordered our Valentine's dinner--delivery from a nearby sushi restaurant--and watched a little TV. 

Holden's first night at home was nearly flawless. He woke up on a 2-3 hour schedule, fed, and went right back to sleep. Robin and I both commented (and quickly knocked on wood) that we each felt somewhat refreshed in the morning. Nursing is going fairly smoothly, though I'm feeling the toll of the first few days spent breastfeeding and am very thankful for lanolin. My body is rebounding well--even better than I thought when I realized that I had gone from 10:15 last night until 9:15 this morning without any pain relief. (I then popped some ibuprofen.) When Lydia was born, I took narcotics and ibuprofen for awhile and recall being extremely uncomfortable. Despite Holden's five extra ounces and despite the fact that I exercised far less this pregnancy, my body just feels better. Maybe it's the level of activity I had to maintain while parenting Lydia, maybe it's delivering in a way that felt natural as opposed to a way that the doctor instructed me, maybe it's just that it's round two, but things feel better.

Now, we enter day three with our newly arrived little guy. Lydia and Stanley will come back home this evening, and we will begin "real" life as a family of four. We've got a cue lined up on AppleTV, books to be read, a running Target list, and little outings planned to do as we feel ready. We're feeling very, very thankful.

Robin snuggles Holden during our final hours at Abbott.

All bundled up and ready to go. We've never had to address taking a newborn out in the cold before!

The youngest of my two wonderful Valentine's dinner dates.