March 27, 2010

Finally Home

Let me prepare you for the following post. So much has happened since I've posted that I felt the need to give everyone a complete run-down of all the events. In this process, I made no effort to be witty or clever in any way, not that my wit or cleverness comes with any effort ;). So I apologize if it is kinda dry . . .

I know Nathan has posted some pictures but I thought I would give a little bit of my perspective on things. Nathan took this picture seconds after Lela came out and at this point I am crying uncontrollably because I could finally see my little girl and because the pain was gone :)

This is my relieved face, so you could imagine my face when I was in pain . . .
This is me holding her for the first time. I don't know what I'm saying to her in case you were wondering. I apparently said a lot of things I don't remember under the influence of some slight pain medication taken around 8 centimeters (I made it without the epidural . . . I'm not so sure I will ever do that again . . .).

Here's one of Lela in the post-partum hospital room (they moved us to this room about an hour or so after delivery). She likes to put her hands in her mouth.

Well, Nathan, Lela and I got to come from the hospital on Thursday. We thought we would get to leave on Wednesday, but the pediatrician at the hospital wanted us to stay one more day. So we were psyched when he told us we could leave Thursday morning.

Part of me was honestly scared to go home because I wouldn't have nurses at my beckon call to clear up questions for me and we hadn't spent a whole night with her without sending her to the nursery when we got tired. But right after lunch on Thursday, we loaded up our stuff and took Lela home.
Thursday night was rough because Lela wouldn't lay in her bassinet for more than a minute without fussing and every little sound she makes causes me to worry that she is suffocating or spitting up and I had to get out of the bed in order to see her, so it was pretty much a sleepless night. It didn't help that Nathan had class the next morning and his two-week bout of sickness began to flare up again in the hospital so I hated to wake him up every time I got up. Luckily my mom stayed the night and was able to rock Lela for about an hour while I got some sleep. But I think I cried four different times that night. Some of it was due to the extreme hormonal change and some of it was due to extreme exhaustion. But I made it through and was able to take a nap the next day.

Friday the moms and my dad helped us get things organized at the house and I was mainly focused on making sure Lela was happy.

I was dreading Friday night because I just knew it would be a repeat of Thursday night but after realizing that Lela was probably cold all night Thursday, we turned up the heat and she slept great between feedings (about 3 1/2 hours apart).

Today was a great day for Lela and us. She did great at all her feedings and after her 10:30 feeding, she stayed awake until her 1:30 feeding. So we gave her a bath and got her dressed up during that time. It was so fun to actually put her in an outfit!
Then later I had time to do some shopping online using the remainder of our gift cards. So basically, I was able to achieve a good level of normalcy today.

Tomorrow I will be staying home from church for obvious reasons, so that will be kinda weird but my mom will stay at home with me. I really don't know what I'm going to do when she leaves, but I guess I'll need to get used to not having her around.

All in all, it feels good to be home and so amazing to be a mother. I'm not sure it has totally sunk just yet.

4 comments:

Sarah Dixon said...

Hey Morgan! I am so glad you are doing fine and I am positive you will be just fine when your mom leaves! Love ya!
Sarah

Rob & Jen said...

She is so beautiful and I can't wait to meet her one day! You are going to be (and already are) great! Will call you soon to catch up!

Shortcake said...

Morgan! I love this entire post. It reminded me a little bit of "The Office" when Jim and Pam are afraid to take their baby home. But I'm so glad things are going well for you. I can't imagine how different your world is now! But I'm sure you are going to learn quickly and can only imagine you'll love it more and more. Congrats again!

Mrs. Sullivan said...

Morgan, I'm soooo happy to hear that you all are doing well. By the way, you've reinforced my future decision to have an epidural whenever I have a baby. :) You're way tougher than me. Let me know if you guys need anything! As you already know, I am a baby novice and am no help whatsoever in what you should do in any given situation with a baby BUT I'm a doer and can help you if you need something. :) Miss you!