Bringing Home Baby...

Homecoming was full of mixed emotions. Frankly, I liked being in the hospital. They fed you (and it was fairly good food), cleaned up after you and pretty much catered to your every whim. However, I was excited to be home and begin our life as a threesome.

So, on Tuesday afternoon we packed up all of my stuff - and I had a surprising amount of stuff, most of which I didn't use - and we headed out. That first ride in the car with Sophie was absolutely agonizing. I sat in the back with Sophie while Neil drove. Every bump, every shimmy of the car were traumatizing events that I was positive were shaking the smarts right out of my kid. Not to mention how it felt on my tender hind. However, we made it home without any real damage, other than to my psyche, and settled in.

During my stay in the hospital, Neil had set up the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper (thanks Randy and Valerie!) that would be Sophie's bed initially. This contraption looks like a play yard but is attached to our bed and has a sleeping surface that is just below our bed's. It places the baby within arm's reach, but out of any danger of smothering. This is a great invention, however, not so great when you're in so much pain that the only way you can get out of bed is by literally rolling out. The Co-Sleeper takes up approximately 2/3 of my side of the bed, making it impossible for me to just get out of bed, I had to skooch down and then out. Needless to say, this wasn't going to work for someone in my condition. Luckily for me, my beloved husband was willing to sleep next to the baby, handing her to me for all of her many feeds and taking over nearly all of the diaper duties those first days. That first week was pretty tough, but we survived.

Not surprisingly, the cats, Potter (left) and Gomez (right) were none too happy to be sharing the house with someone new.