What an amazing week its been as Parker and I learn how to be parents of our sweet Mary Elizabeth and adapt to our new roles. Luckily, we were able to leave the hospital about 11 hours early, which was such a blessing. It was nice having the help at the hospital but when you've got nurses, doctors and hospital staff coming into the room every hour to run some kind of test, check me or the baby out, or just clean the room or bring food, it doesn't leave much time for rest. We were tired, exhausted and ready to start this new chapter of our lives in our own home. One of the toughest moments of the first week was also one of the sweetest for me. The last morning we were in the hospital, Mary Elizabeth was ready to nurse at 5am. Neither of us her (me and her) knew what we were doing with the whole nursing thing and at 5am, she was very hungry and frustrated with trying. We woke up to her crying, in addition to me being in quite a bit of pain. After trying unsuccessfully to nurse and get her back to sleep, I tried calling a nurse for assistance only to find out my nurse call button was not working. I was tired, in pain and feeling very inadequate. Parker woke up and rocked her for an hour and a half, calming her and getting her to sleep so that I could get some pain medicine and rest. He's been an amazing daddy since the very beginning.
We got home Thursday afternoon and began trying to figure out what life looks like with a newborn. We got a good system at night where Parker wakes up when she cries, he changes her, and then hands her to me to nurse. Overall, she's a very good baby! She eats well (thanks to 2 meetings with the lactation consultants at the hospital!) and we figured out that when she eats well, everything else just kind of works out. We've had lots of visitors and Mary Elizabeth does great meeting everyone. Our friends and family have been great about bringing us food and helping out where they can.
Our first outing was Sunday after we got home. We went over to Preston and Beth's for dinner, where Mary Elizabeth got to meet her cousins for the first time. They were so excited to see her, especially Gracie! She wanted to hold her so bad, just like her baby dolls.
Leaving the hospital!!
First photo session at home.
Munchkin in her bassinet
Meeting Hershey for the first time
They're buddies already!
Daddy's girl
Big cousin Gracie "holding" the baby. She was so excited!
This face is what we like to call "milk drunk."
Sometimes life just calls for a tutu.
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