We left the hospital around 1pm on Saturday. The sign in my room said that discharges were done between 10am-noon, so I had asked Paul to arrive at 10am. I found out later that morning that MFM discharges don't take place that early in the day. Shortly after they arrived, we went down to the NICU. Nadia and I went in first. She was very excited to meet him. The nurse turned off the bili lights so that his skin would look more normal in color. Nadia asked me why Oliver wasn't talking to her, ha ha! Paul visited Oliver next while I watched the kids.
I was given various goodies at discharge (ex. a diaper bag from Gerber) including this cake that read "Happy Birthday" on the side. On the way home we stopped at Friendly's. I had been craving one particular sundae for months. Unfortunately they didn't bring me the one I ordered, but Nadia and I still thought it was tasty! Ian was really out of sorts. The only way he'd stop crying was if Paul held him while standing up. Even if Paul held him in the booth, Ian was sobbing. These last 11 weeks have been tough on the little guy. When we got home the first priority was for me to pump, and I almost had a stroke as we thought the pump we had rented from the hospital wasn't working. Paul called the rental company, and they told us how to get it working. Whew. The next couple of hours passed very quickly as I gave the kids a bath while Paul mowed the lawn. I also took some time to try on non-maternity clothes to see what fit and to sort through Oliver's clothes to see what preemie size clothing we had. I found that we have quite a bit in size 0-3 month (although some of it is summer clothing because he was far beyond 3 months old before he fit that size). We have more newborn size clothing than preemie. In preemie we have two suits for Sunday and 7 sleepers. I at least need to get some preemie size onesies, and it would be nice to have a couple of preemie size outfits (that aren't sleepers). 
I had hoped to wear a non-maternity skirt to Nadia's concert, but I ended up wearing a maternity skirt. I was thinking how I wanted to look pregnant when I was pregnant, but four days after giving birth I didn't want to look pregnant. Thankfully several of my capri pants (ones with elastic waists) did fit so Saturday was my last day of wearing maternity clothes. It felt odd to be trying on non-maternity summer clothes. I had assumed (since Oliver wasn't due until October 3) that I wouldn't be wearing those again until 2013. I weighed myself this morning, and I weigh at least 30 pounds less than when I came home from the hospital after having Ian. I am thrilled that I don't have as much weight to lose this time around (in large part because I started at a lower weight this time around plus I didn't gain as much weight). I know the number will go down some once the swelling in my feet and legs goes away as I'm still carrying around some extra water weight right now. After that the pounds won't come off as easily, but I'll keep working until I'm back to my goal.
After dinner it was time to head to the church where Nadia has been participating in the children's musical this summer. This was my main motivation for coming home this weekend.
Even though coming home delayed my opportunity to hold Oliver, I am very, very glad I came home this weekend. As much as I would have loved holding Oliver for the first time on Saturday night, I have to say that attending Nadia's musical was one of the VERY best moments of 2012 thus far for me. She was definitely more in her element than at the gymnastics showcase or ballet recital (although lately she's been doing more ballet around the house). She sang with gusto - so much so that even though she was singing the correct notes, I could pick her voice out at times. There were about 30 children in the choir (ages 3-12). She definitely didn't know all the words to all the songs, but considering the musical was almost an hour long and she just turned 4 in June, I thought she did very well. She smiled and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. A few times I couldn't help but laugh because she had added a little of her own choreography to some of the songs. There were times when she was the only one doing a hand motion. 
She wasn't nearly as enthusiastic on Sunday night. I think she was tired as I saw her yawning a few times, but I am definitely glad we signed her up to participate in this program this summer. If we're still living in our current house next summer, I'll definitely sign her up again. We shall see if Ian is mature enough to participate as well next summer. He definitely has musical abilities (even more than Nadia does I think), but he doesn't follow directions nearly as well as Nadia did at his age. I came to two conclusions during the program on Saturday night: #1 I need another lens for my camera because most of the pics I took were blurry. The lens I was using isn't meant for taking pictures of someone that far away and #2 we need a video camera. Paul used his brother's video camera a little bit on Saturday night, and I took a video of one song on Sunday night. I wish with all my heart I had a video of Saturday night's entire program. I am certain I would enjoy watching that again in the years to come. So I now know two things to put on my wish list for Christmas this year!
After putting the kids to bed, I gave Paul a haircut. In the past 11 years of marriage his hair has never gotten this long. I tried to cut his hair as quickly as possible as I had been on my feet ALL day and my legs and feet were swollen to epic proportions. None of my shoes fit. I was barefoot in church. I couldn't even get a tiny part of my foot into a shoe. Standing was really painful. Even my toes were incredibly swollen. While I was cutting Paul's hair, he said this is crazy how much we're trying to jam into 23 hours. He said, he wished I could stay at home at least 48 hours. So I left a message with the Bailey House to see if I could change my arrival date from Sunday to Monday. She called back at 8am on Sunday and said that was fine and asked that I either come before 10am or after 3pm on Monday. Even with the extra time, the day was really jam packed. I hadn't been home since July 3, and I hadn't been able to do housework since May 29. I kept alternating between playing with the kids (Candyland, reading books, etc.) and doing housework (sorting through clutter, putting away toys, working on getting things out of Paul's office, etc.). And I was pumping every 2-3 hours. Over the course of the weekend my average "output" per time went from 10ml to 30-35ml. Considering Oliver started at 4ml a day and then went to 8ml a day and now is at 16ml a day, I have quite a stockpile available for his use since I'm pumping more than 8 times a day. I also finally did Nadia's birthday interview (video). I will share that with you later this week. The response that cracked me up the most was when I asked her what made her happy, and she answered when Ian is sleeping. LOL! Can you tell he annoys her at times? 
No comments:
Post a Comment