Our Happily Ever After: Coming Home

Monday, May 16, 2011

Coming Home

We had decided to stay in the hospital for 48 hours after Nathan was born, and I was really glad we decided to stay that long. (Turns out because of my positive strep test, Nathan wasn't able to be discharged for 48 hours anyway). It was so nice to have all the nurses as a resource especially since Nathan and I were trying to get the whole nursing thing figured out. I don't know how many times I sent Matt out to the nurses station to ask a question. It was reassuring to hear the nurses say our experiences and issues were normal and to offer help and advice when needed.

During our hospital stay we were surrounded by visitors pretty much non stop. They were great to bring us food (hospital food is not my favorite), take pictures and update family and friends, but we also got overwhelmed at times especially on Saturday when doctors and nurses were frequently coming in to do our discharges and we had lots of questions to ask. It was difficult to concentrate with a room full of people. We finally decided to spend the last few hours of our hospital stay just the three of us and I think that was a good decision. Things were calm when we left and we got to experience those special moments just with our new immediate family. We got last minute advice from the nursery nurse along with some goodies, got Nathan all dressed up to come home and Matt loaded everything in the car. Then it was time to show Nathan the real world. I also felt it was the moment when Matt and I really became parents. Although we had been parents for the last 2 days, it didn't feel like we were solely responsible for little Nathan. The nurses checked on us to make sure he was eating, having wet and dirty diapers, and keeping his temperature up. They were responsible for him too. But once we left the hospital, we were totally on our own. It was a little overwhelming but also exciting to be starting the new adventure of parenthood.