Welcome Home!

We came home from the hospital on Friday, December 4th with Lucas and Olivia. Our goal the entire pregnancy was to do whatever we could to ensure we came home as a family, and we are so happy our dreams came true. All those weeks and weeks of bedrest was worth every single second and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Dan has been the best daddy and biggest help ever. He has changed almost every single dirty diaper, and he is a swaddling pro! The nurses were so impressed they said he should teach a class. I am still healing from the c-section and trying to learn to nurse as well, and his help has been invaluable. The real test will come tonight when we are on our own for the first time without the help of the nurses and nursery if we need it. We took advantage of the nursery for about 5 hours the second and third night to get some much needed rest (we only got 2 hrs the first night). It was the hardest thing ever to see them leave the room, but Dan and I knew we should get some rest while we can.

We were delayed leaving the hospital for a couple of hours because Olivia's umbilical cord tore a little right before we left. She was bleeding some and the pediatrician wanted to make sure all was well. Luckily all was well (our first scare of many, I'm sure) and we left the hospital at rush hour on a Friday. Not good planning!

It took us awhile to get home, and we had to stop and get some prescriptions filled as well. By the time we finally made it home, it was about an hour past their feeding, so it was a bit of a hectic homecoming. We came into the house (after our wonderful neighbors Jerry and Sally took some pics for us) and went straight to feeding. Piper didn't know what to think when two little screaming people came into his fortress of solitude! Once we finally got them settled, we got the basics we needed from the car and crashed, for a few hours anyway! We are feeding them every 2-3 hours right now to help them get their weight up, and each feeding takes about an hour right now. That doesn't leave much time for sleep, but we know it will only get easier from here. We are trying to enjoy every minute we can because we know it will go by all too quickly.

It is surreal to see these two little people sleeping beside each other in their pack and play. We have looked at it empty for weeks, and imagined them being there, but now it is real! No amount of planning and nothing you read in books compares to reality, but Dan and I are in it together and we are learning as we go. We have such an even stronger bond now, and we are so happy to be a family of four. I just sit and stare at them all the time, and never get tired of seeing their little faces. We love them so much!