4/17/14
Great big sigh - the day had come to leave the hospital. I will miss the great snacks...especially the ice cream and Popsicles. I will miss having people get me water 24-7. I will miss being able to have help with the baby at the push of a button (or get a break from her too). I will miss the alone time I have been able to enjoy with Peter. I will miss the fantastic nurses who have been so compassionate, warm, friendly, helpful, and loving to me and my family. It's so weird because they have played such important roles in this important life event and when I leave the hospital, or when their shift ended, the relationship ends. There have been a few that we have really connected with and had great conversations with. I know they probably do that every day with many of their patients so maybe for them it isn't quite as special as it is for me. I would have liked to have found a way to offer them to continue to be in our lives (maybe via facebook?) without it being weird or them feeling obligated if they didn't feel the connection that I did. But alas, I am too shy or self conscious to even bring up the subject. There WAS one of Emmalyn's nurses, Jennifer, that absolutely loved her and I could tell she always hoped that we would ask her to take Emmalyn to the nursery so she could take care of her. I called her one morning before her shift ended and awkwardly (at least it felt awkward to me) said that we had really enjoyed meeting her and appreciated the way she took care of Emmalyn and if she wanted, would love to stay connected on Facebook. I told her she could find look up my name and then sort of left it in her hands. (She sent me a friend request later that day! I wish I would have had the balls to do that with a couple of the other nurses.)
Things I won't miss... the "public" style toilet in the bathroom, my tailbone hurting from the way I was sitting in the hospital bed, certain bossy nurses with an awesome accent telling me what to do, having to state my name and birth date each time I take a pain pill, running out of space on the little table thingy, feeling wasteful because they brought us iced tea with every meal that we never touched, being away from Max and not being able to cuddle with him in the morning and put him to bed at night.
We took a couple pictures with Emmalyn that were like pictures we took with Max so that we could compare them later. Here's the post with those pics - click here.
Picture like one we took with Max
Trying to buckle this little baby into that big car seat.
All ready to go in her "going home outfit" - thanks Tida for the cute dress!
That's the toy Maxwell gave her
Another picture like one we took with Max
All packed up and leaving!
We made it home! (I sat in the front seat on the way home - I knew she'd be okay back there without me)
I was pretty emotional today, about everything. We got my pain med prescription filled a little later in the day so that didn't help because I was in more pain than I needed to be. I was having to over-articulate my words because I could hear myself slurring my words (didn't realize until later that it was a result of the meds).
Such a little bum.
Look at how different her skin tone is compared to mine.
My new home was basically stuck on the couch surrounded by pillows and nursing pillows and my water.
First time sleeping in her crib. She is a great sleeper. She wakes up only to eat and then falls asleep towards the end of nursing and pretty much stays asleep - she sleeps hard and nothing disturbs her.
I went in to check on Maxwell when he was napping and teared up because he looked so sweet and I had missed him so much.
...Then the breakdown happened...
Getting my carpets cleaned had been on my "to-do" list forever but I never got around to it. I had finally called a company while we were in the hospital and because it was the week before Easter they were basically booked. He said that they could fit me in on Thursday afternoon. I figured that would be okay because it was the day we were coming home from the hospital and we should be around in the afternoon. I did NOT think this through thoroughly. So the guys came over late that afternoon and cleaned the carpets. I took the baby to the guest bedroom since we weren't getting the carpets cleaned in there. The carpets looked great after they left but unfortunately everything was wet and smelled like the cleaner they used - which wasn't a bad smell but it still smelled a little chemically.
After they left it quickly hit me what a bad idea it was to have them come today. I couldn't really be anywhere else in our part of the house because it was all wet and I didn't think it was good for the baby to be breathing the chemicals. I escaped, with Max, over to Chris and Mary Ann's next door. I just showed up on their doorstep, with my 2 kids, and asked to hang out over there (while crying of course). They welcomed us in and immediately started taking care of me. I rested on the couch while they got Max some dinner and held the baby. Then after Max ate, he went upstairs and played with the "boys" (Chris and their son Jared). They were so sweet. While Max was playing upstairs, he had an accident and wet his pants. I was MORTIFIED! My son had NEVER had an accident like that. Of course, they were so nice about it and didn't seemed phased by it but I felt so bad. Here I crash their house and hijack their evening and then my son wets his pants and they have to take care of it? Ugh. And I couldn't do anything about it. Peter came and picked up Max when it was time to go to bed. I stayed for a little bit longer and ate dinner with them. I will forever be grateful for their friendship toward me on this day. I felt completely broken and overwhelmed with being home and having to take care of everything topped with the inability to be in my home due to my stupid decision to have the carpets cleaned - and they opened their arms and just took care of me.
Chris loved holding her
That night, Emmalyn and I slept in the guest bedroom (Peter slept in our room). She slept in the pack-n-play and I called Peter on his phone in the middle of the night when I needed him to bring her to me to eat. I felt that it would not be healthy for her to spend a night sleeping in our master bedroom above the wet floor breathing in the chemicals. It certainly wasn't how I visioned our first night at home. Sometimes in my focused drive to get things done I lose sight of the bigger picture. I need to work on this flaw!
Maxwell was happy to have us home but he wasn't completely un-phased by the new "normal". He had a total of accidents today. Not just little leaked-in-his-underwear accidents...real full-on accidents. I don't think he had 3 accidents in the last 2 months let alone in one day!!! This is what many people warned me about... bring home a new baby and your potty-trained toddler will revert.
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