After a quick labor and delivery, we spent our one night in the hospital with round the clock visits from the amazing nursing team. They were busy running all of the standard tests on sweet Baby Viv to make sure her blood sugar was staying up, and her temperature was beginning to regulate. While it was nice to have help, guidance, and any questions answered, we were exhausted. On Thursday morning, we were given the option of staying another night, or leaving that day (so long as Vivian passed her 24 hour tests). I thought another night might be nice, but Mike was eager to get back home, so I obliged.
At the 24 hour mark, Vivian’s tests all came back as passed with flying colors! The care team began their discharge process, and we excitedly began packing up all of our belongings.
Most exciting, but also terrifying was putting our sweet baby girl into her car seat for the very first time. She looked so teeny tiny in there. How did I not take a picture of this?! Oh well. This was the moment that parenthood became a reality. We were now responsible for this small and helpless (but extremely cute) baby.
The nurses walked us out to our car to make sure the car seat clicked in, and just like that we were on our way home. I sat in the back with Vivian, so terrified. Before even making it out of the parking lot, she spit up. As a scared new mom, I made Mike pull back into a parking spot so we could make sure she didn’t choke. (Of course she was totally fine). And then finally, we actually hit the road. I have never been more anxious during a car ride in my life. I just wanted to get home and have her safely back in my arms. Luckily the car ride is less than 10 minutes. 😂 Ten minutes sure does feel like an eternity with such precious cargo!
We were so excited to get home so Vivian could meet her Grandma and her sweet doggy siblings. I had tried to plan out how to introduce the dogs, but we didn’t end up doing anything special. We let Mike go in the house first to give them hugs, had them smell her little hat, and then in I came with our sweet babe in her car seat. The dogs were beyond curious about this new creature coming into their home.
Grandma cuddles were soon to follow with an already smitten Grandma. 😊
I had a couple of outfit options planned for her coming home outfit, but she was way too small for anything we had! We put her in the smallest pair of pajamas we had brought and called it a day, even though she was swimming in them! You’ll notice her feet were nowhere near the feet holes and sleeves were inches too long!
Once nighttime hit, we realized that we probably had no idea what we were doing and maybe could’ve used another night of nurses help at the hospital, but it was too late for that! We were officially on our own.
The first night we were all gung-ho to share night duties. We quickly realized that anytime she woke up she wanted to eat so Mike unfortunately couldn’t offer much help. Cue the beginning of sleep deprivation and welcome to Parenthood!
Laugh Often – Rachel
Simply Stoops 