Homecoming

The morning of Baby L's last round of IV antibiotics, G and I waited anxiously for her test results.  If you haven't read my full birth story that details how we got here, the story starts here: Kim & Baby L's Birth Story.  Details on Baby L's IV are in Part 4.

The morning started somewhat comically for me.  Similar to the night before, I'd given her to the nurses at 12:30am so I could get some rest.  I gave the nurses 80ml of breast milk to tide her over until 6am, and my hungry, hungry hippo came back to me at 4:30am because she ate everything I gave the nurses and was hungry again!  She and I did a cluster feed from 4:30 until 8:30 where she fed for 5-10 minutes, fell asleep, and woke up 30 minutes later to do it again.  I was a little relieved when the nurses came to pick her up again for her IV at 8:30am because I needed to finish my breakfast and take my meds.

G arrived at the hospital around 9 bearing gifts of Caribou coffee, Baby L came back from her (hopefully) last IV, and we waited anxiously for results.  The head nurse came by and told us to expect a 3-4 hour wait, and so wait we did.  G was particularly restless - I can tell this week had taken a toll on him.  Between Hurricane Harvey back home and the endless waiting he'd had to do, he looked exhausted.

Finally, a little before noon, the doctor came in to do the daily checks on her, and we learned her CRP results were in!  For  reference, normal range is 2-5 mg/L, her first test was 10.4, her second test result was 11.9.  I was bracing myself for another bad result, and the doc told us her CRP results were 3mg/L!  We could go home!  Not quite, said the doc, she still needed her vaccines and we needed the hospital to discharge her.  The antibiotics were administered to all the newborns that needed them after lunch, and then the staff would start the discharge paperwork.  So...despite our excitement, we had more waiting.

I went with Baby L for her final vaccines.  They removed the cannula in her hand, and I almost cried right there (SHE was a trooper - not a sound).  Her hand was bleeding and bruised, and the nurse bandaged it up for her.  This was actually her second cannula because the one on her other hand started leaking a few days before, so she has bruises on both of  her little hands.  I hated it.

Boxing glove is coming off!

The nurse removes the tape and and splint, and Baby L squirms but doesn't cry.

Next was the 2 vaccines, one in her arm and one in leg.  She definitely screamed for both of these, and they were over super quick.  While she was on the warming table half undressed, I asked the nurses to help me get her footprints for her baby book - they looked at me kind of strangely.  They all knew HOW to do footprints because they do it for the birth records, but apparently mommies in the Middle East don't ask for prints in their baby books.

With all that done, the next waiting game was for hospital discharge.  For me, discharge took about 5 hours - so I figured we'd be home around 6 or 7pm. While we waited, I packed up our hospital room - after 8 days and 7 nights cooped up in there, my stuff and her stuff was everywhere.  When  I finished that, there was literally nothing to do but wait.  And wait.  I tried to dress Baby L up in a Michigan-themed dress as a "going home" outfit, but it was too big for her.  I settled on a hairbow.  The hospital administration must have been moving fast that day, because we received our discharge paperwork around 3:30pm - much faster than our previous experience.  G took a first trip to the car with all the bags while I packed her into the carseat, and then we were off!

Baby L is not super open to new experiences.  She was definitely not a fan of the carseat. The blue ink on her feet is remnants from her footprints in her baby book :-)

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Once the car started moving, she fell right asleep!  Baby's first car ride was a success!

Goodbye BrightPoint!  We'll see you in 2 days for Baby L's first checkup!

We got home and immediate ordered room service.  8 days of hospital food, and I was ready to test my post-pregnancy nausea.  I ordered a steak since I couldn't eat beef all through my pregnancy, and G had picked up some champagne and red wine earlier in the week.  I fed Baby L right before dinner so that I could have a little booze and not worry about my milk.  I also ordered a chocolate lava cake for dessert.  It was all glorious.  The meat, the wine, the champagne, the dessert - it was soooo good to be finally home!

Homecoming celebration!

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out on the sofa, sobering up to feed Baby L, and then finally to bed, where G and I slept in the same bed for the first time in months. Late in my pregnancy, I was super restless at night and anxiety about keeping G awake as I tossed and turned made it even harder for me to fall asleep, so I sent him packing to the guestroom.  Nowadays, I sleep like a baby, until my baby wakes me up.  So it was definitely nice to get a cuddle and kiss goodnight from my sweetie before drifting off to sleep in my own bed.  We are so happy and excited to start our life as a family of 3!