Homeward Bound
Journal Entry 4 - January 5, 2013
Today we got the okay to leave the hospital and take Colton home. I had been so pre-occupied with the labor and delivery that I hadn't thought about the trip home. The past two days had been full of instructions, advice, paperwork, excitement, exhaustion and joy and I had been focusing all my attention on just getting through a minute at a time. I'm brand new to this mommy business and I am learning as I go. I don't have any reason to look too far ahead because as soon as I have a plan, those plans change. My goal is to listen to my heart (and my new mommy instincts) and enjoy every minute with our new little miracle.
Once we had everything packed up from our room, we were faced with the task of getting Colton in his car seat. I practiced putting a baby doll in the car seat several times just so I would be ready for this moment, but let me tell you, it was nothing like I practiced. After some worry (on my end) that I was going to break his limbs off getting him in the darn thing and a lot of patience and reassurance (on Matt's end) that everything was going to be just fine, we successfully got the little man in his seat and ready for our nurse to give us a "thumbs up". We got the okay that the car seat was good to go, signed paperwork that Colton was our baby and just like that, we were on our way.
One of the nurses escorted Colton and myself down in a wheelchair and made sure we had him locked in the car seat base correctly. As the nurse said goodbye, Matt and I got in the car and shut the doors and that's when it hit me that we are on our own. I looked at Matt and I said "what are we doing, how can they just let us leave with this baby? There's so much I don't know". Of course he laughed and said "he's ours and it's going to be fine". I knew that we were going to be fine, but that initial feeling of knowing that we are now 100% responsible for this new little person felt a little bit overwhelming.
The 10 minute trip across town felt like it took an hour and it seemed as though every driver was out to kill us. If you've ever driven in Greeneville, TN you know that it seems like every driver is out to kill you on any given day so with a newborn baby in the backseat, the feeling was even more intensified. After holding my breath for what felt like the entire ride home, we finally pulled in the driveway and I relaxed and thought to myself, okay we can do this!
Once we had Colton settled in, Matt and I were able to talk about the experiences of the past couple of days and even laugh about some things (mostly me). I just kept looking at our precious baby and reminding myself how blessed we are to have a healthy baby in our home. I know that I'm totally biased, but I know that he's just the sweetest most beautiful baby in the whole world and I'm so lucky to be his mommy.
I was dreading the first night at home. I have never had to care for a baby all night before. Even though we had him in the hospital for 2 nights, I had help from the nurses and they were readily available if I had questions. I have always been a heavy sleeper and one of my bigger fears of becoming a mom was that I would not wake up to hear him if something was wrong. Well, I guess when you become a mom you gain extra hearing power in your sleep! I woke up to every sound he made from breathing to hiccups (needless to say, I didn't sleep too much). Besides the fact that I was overly sensitive to every sound he made, this first night at home couldn't have gone any better. Colton woke up every 2 to 3 hours to eat, he ate good and went straight back to sleep - he was perfect. We survived the first night great (maybe too good) so I'm hoping we haven't jinxed ourselves for the many long nights ahead of us.
Today we got the okay to leave the hospital and take Colton home. I had been so pre-occupied with the labor and delivery that I hadn't thought about the trip home. The past two days had been full of instructions, advice, paperwork, excitement, exhaustion and joy and I had been focusing all my attention on just getting through a minute at a time. I'm brand new to this mommy business and I am learning as I go. I don't have any reason to look too far ahead because as soon as I have a plan, those plans change. My goal is to listen to my heart (and my new mommy instincts) and enjoy every minute with our new little miracle.
Once we had everything packed up from our room, we were faced with the task of getting Colton in his car seat. I practiced putting a baby doll in the car seat several times just so I would be ready for this moment, but let me tell you, it was nothing like I practiced. After some worry (on my end) that I was going to break his limbs off getting him in the darn thing and a lot of patience and reassurance (on Matt's end) that everything was going to be just fine, we successfully got the little man in his seat and ready for our nurse to give us a "thumbs up". We got the okay that the car seat was good to go, signed paperwork that Colton was our baby and just like that, we were on our way.
One of the nurses escorted Colton and myself down in a wheelchair and made sure we had him locked in the car seat base correctly. As the nurse said goodbye, Matt and I got in the car and shut the doors and that's when it hit me that we are on our own. I looked at Matt and I said "what are we doing, how can they just let us leave with this baby? There's so much I don't know". Of course he laughed and said "he's ours and it's going to be fine". I knew that we were going to be fine, but that initial feeling of knowing that we are now 100% responsible for this new little person felt a little bit overwhelming.
The 10 minute trip across town felt like it took an hour and it seemed as though every driver was out to kill us. If you've ever driven in Greeneville, TN you know that it seems like every driver is out to kill you on any given day so with a newborn baby in the backseat, the feeling was even more intensified. After holding my breath for what felt like the entire ride home, we finally pulled in the driveway and I relaxed and thought to myself, okay we can do this!
Once we had Colton settled in, Matt and I were able to talk about the experiences of the past couple of days and even laugh about some things (mostly me). I just kept looking at our precious baby and reminding myself how blessed we are to have a healthy baby in our home. I know that I'm totally biased, but I know that he's just the sweetest most beautiful baby in the whole world and I'm so lucky to be his mommy.
I was dreading the first night at home. I have never had to care for a baby all night before. Even though we had him in the hospital for 2 nights, I had help from the nurses and they were readily available if I had questions. I have always been a heavy sleeper and one of my bigger fears of becoming a mom was that I would not wake up to hear him if something was wrong. Well, I guess when you become a mom you gain extra hearing power in your sleep! I woke up to every sound he made from breathing to hiccups (needless to say, I didn't sleep too much). Besides the fact that I was overly sensitive to every sound he made, this first night at home couldn't have gone any better. Colton woke up every 2 to 3 hours to eat, he ate good and went straight back to sleep - he was perfect. We survived the first night great (maybe too good) so I'm hoping we haven't jinxed ourselves for the many long nights ahead of us.
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