Moving On

I've been given the not-so-subtle impression that I'm crazy for absolutely loving and thoroughly enjoying every single minute I was in the hospital...post partum. The nursing staff was outstanding, the meals were delicious (I could order as much as I want off of the menu they provided), the visitors were entertaining and never stopped coming, and Micah was (is) such a good boy.

I have to take a moment to give David his much-do credit on his role as both husband and father. He was with us the entire hospital stay doing everything that I couldn't do for both the baby and me. He never complained, was always there for us, and was such a big help that I couldn't have done as well as I did without him. I was so grateful that his resident decided to give him the entire week of paternity leave then instead of a month later. Not only was my man supportive, he was so kind and loving and the all-around awesome guy I knew I married and the wonderful father that I knew he would be. He even changed those first few diapers, which, as you may know, are really quite...messy. And not that his help has stopped there because it hasn't, but working 80+ hour weeks can slightly impinge on good help.

On top of David being there constantly, we had a never-ending stream of family, friends, and church family stopping by to see our is-he-here-yet? baby. When I say never-ending, I am not exaggerating. Our visitors would start coming around 10am (and that's just because I said I didn't want anyone there any earlier) and end around 8:30pm. Every single day/night. I didn't take one nap while in the hospital...there wasn't any time. But it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Our Micah-man got (and is continuing to get) so much stuff, including some boy-looking clothes, which he is probably very thankful for. His yellow and green wardrobe is steadily becoming more and more blue/boyish.









Each night, we sent Micah back to the nursery so we could get some sleep. He is such a noisy sleeper and all his grunts and squeaks would keep us up. The nurses would bring him to our room when he needed to eat...it was great. And speaking of great, the nurses were absolutely fabulous. They were so attentive to both my and Micah's needs. They would go out of their way to make sure we had what we needed and that we were comfortable. The morning after Micah was born, they came to get me up out of bed (mind you, he was born at 7:49 the previous evening). That wasn't the most fun I had during my stay there, but it was necessary. Tuesday and Wednesday I took it easy, just walking around the room. Finally, on Wednesday night, D told me I had to walk the halls with him. We left my mom with Micah and I finally stepped out of my room for the first time! He showed me where the nursery was and I also found out that our room was right across from the nurses' station. By Thursday, I was up and around much more and when we left on Friday, I was completely comfortable walking and doing things for myself. The doctors and nurses would check my incision multiple times daily and each time they saw it, they'd comment on how "beautiful" it looked. I found their word choice kind of funny, but was glad it was doing well.

Friday morning was check-out and Mom and Dad came to video/take pictures of the entire event. Before we left, the food service people brought us a goodie bag filled with dinner ingredients that we could make together at home.


Then we got all this free stuff for Micah: a diaper bag filled with goodies and all the diapers and diapering items in the isolate. I noticed, at one point, that Micah's diapers were suspiciously labeled "size 1" and asked the nurse about it. She said, "Oh yes, he's in size one. We put our six- and seven- pound babies in newborn diapers." I asked if the newborn would still fit him, to which she replied, "They might, but they'd be bikini on him." And she was right...so Mom and I are making a few diaper wreaths for several of the ladies who are pregnant at church. Also, I'm not using wipes at this point. They were using gauze at the hosptial because babies' skin is so sensitive, but I didn't want to keep buying gauze. Another nurse suggested dampening face cloths, which we are doing and it's working out great. I was looking into something other than wipes before the baby was born, but hadn't settled on anything. Another way the nurses were so helpful!

To wrap things up, you might notice that Micah's going-home outfit doesn't look like the one I had previously posted. That's because Mom brought the one we had to the hosptial and we measured it against the baby. You guessed it, it (size 0-3) was too small for our nine-pound baby. I was actually very happy that it didn't fit because Mom was able to go to the store and exchange it for the one I really wanted in size 3-6 months. So this blue and gray stripped outfit was the one I had originally wanted :)

Dad posted these Welcome Home, Micah Andrew signs all over the house. He's such a grandpa already! Now we're home and getting in the swing of things. We still have lots of visitors and everyone says the same thing, "He's so beautiful. You have to say all babies are cute, even if they're not, but your baby really is beautiful." We're kind of partial, so we agree, but I tell them not to say it too loudly otherwise Micah will get a big head. We love you, little man!