The First 24 Hours

We made it! We survived the first 24 hours after leaving the hospital. It has certainly been a challenge, but such a rewarding experience for sure.

We left the hospital Saturday around noon. We were so sad to leave our "support staff" of nurses and helpers at the hospital. They were amazing and taught us so much. We wish we could have brought them all home with us! Here are a few pictures of us getting ready to leave (as well as a picture showing how much STUFF we had in the room with us). We were so blessed to receive flowers and gifts, and that, in addition to everything we dragged to the hospital with us, filled up the entire cart when we were leaving!

We were greeted at the driveway at home by a super cute sign that my sister Joan and Mama got for us (its in the picture above). Once we arrived home, we were excited to show Anne Louise her new room. We're pretty sure she liked it, even though she slept through the tour.

Here she is in a ceremonial picture lying in her bed. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies have nothing in their crib, so we had to take out the beautiful bumper and snuggly animals.

We had some very special visitors - our neighbors Jeff and Lauren. The crib bedding was Lauren's, so it was neat for her to see it.

As for the first night, Anne Louise is not exactly ready to sleep through the night yet. She did great with her feedings and sleeping up until the 3:30 AM feeding. She was just not quite ready to go back to bed after that. But we eventually (FOUR hours later!!) got her to fall asleep. Unfortunately, that was exactly an hour before we had to leave for the pediatrician. We had a doctor's appointment today because they wanted to check Anne Louise's jaundice. Its slightly above normal, but the lab work today showed no change since yesterday, which is good. The doctor told us to keep feeding her every three hours (even if that sometimes means waking her up - great). My grandmother, however, would be proud at Anne Louise's diaper activity. Grandmother used to say that going to the bathroom would fix any ailment, and Anne Louise seems to be attempting to follow that advice. Her bowel movements (as Grandmother called them) have been frequent, which is a good thing and will hopefully help get rid of the jaundice sooner rather than later. We have another doctor's appointment Tuesday to check it again, so we will keep everyone posted.

Today has been relatively uneventful. My sister Caroline came over to help us get more situated and to run errands. She was SO helpful, and it allowed both Patrick and I to get some much needed rest this afternoon. Thanks Carrie! Anne Louise has slept most of the day (except for the frequent feedings), so we're guessing there will probably be some lively activity tonight. Poor Patrick - he has a big day at work tomorrow! But we wouldn't change all this for anything!