Sunday, April 13, 2008

All Together

Eliza was released from the hospital today! Brenna and I went down to the hospital about 10:00 and returned home at 12:30 or so. Eliza left the hospital weighing 5 lb 12 oz, which is exactly twice as much as she weighed when she was born eight weeks ago. Something about that little factoid that really sits well with the accountant in me. The nurse walked with us down to the van and checked the car seat to make sure all was in order and then we were off. Eliza was a great traveler, and we made it home with no complaints.

The children were at church, so I went over for the 3rd hour and was congratulated by quite a few of our gracious ward members. Often it seems they are as excited about Eliza coming home as we are. At length I collected the kids and we headed home. They could barely contain their enthusiasm. We walked in through the garage and had to go up the stairs where Brenna had Eliza sleeping in our room. Brenna had the video camera out and got footage of the kids heading up the stairs with smiles on their faces. I went into the room before them so I could watch their expressions as they saw her. She was sound asleep in her bassinet. When the children saw her they all got somewhat sheepish and shy smiles on their faces that soon turned into wide, wide grins.

We spent the rest of the day monitoring the kids and trying to ensure they didn't love Eliza too much. On the whole they did great. It's just hard to speak softly. For Eliza it must be like us going to a rock concert. Her tolerance for noise and rambunctiousness will definitely have to increase. But she took it all in stride and is doing great.

Hunter and Madison enjoy Eliza's presence, but Savannah is particularly taken with her. She just wanted to stay in our room and be near Eliza the whole day. After a while we were able to distract Hunter and Madison so Savannah could have a turn holding Eliza. We got her all set up on the bed, and she probably held Eliza for 45 minutes or so--both of them as content as could be. I can tell that Savannah is going to be a second mother for Eliza--and I mean that in the best way possible. She takes the responsibility of being the big sister very seriously, and I believe that will only be more true with such a little one now in our home.

The only downers at all with the whole situation are that Eliza still has oxygen, albeit a tiny amount. So she still has the tubes in her nose and a little oxygen tank that we can carry around in a shoulder bag. We hope that she won't need the oxygen too much longer, but we just don't know. It is nice that it is so portable, though. Also, apparently she has reflux, which means a lot of spitting up. Hunter was similar, and he soldiered through it all like a champ, so we'll just have to see how Eliza does. As a parent it's just painful to watch them go through the seemingly continual spit up routine. Also, because of the reflux she makes a lot of grunting and groaning noises. She rarely cries, but she is plenty noisy. Poor girl. When she finally gets into a deep sleep though, she is so peaceful and angelic.

We love having her home and are bracing ourselves for the real parenting work that has now begun. What a blessing!

As a postscript, we took lots of photos and video today, but we had to send Bren's laptop away to be fixed this week, and my desktop is such a dinosaur that it doesn't have the proper interfaces to download the photos or video. So, my apologies, but I can't give you any visual proof. You'll just have to trust me that she's home, and as soon as Bren's laptop returns we'll get on the stick!

9 comments:

Nicole said...

How exciting! I hope you all have a smooth transition. We'll be looking to see pictures soon...

Alison Woods said...

Yeah! Congratulations! We are so happy for you!

Kelly said...

Wow, I used to think that blogs were the fastest way to hear news, but apparently Fast and Testimony Meetings are much quicker :) Your mom got up today and told us the good news. Congratulations! What a happy day for your family.

Rebecca said...

Yay!!!! That is so great. We're so excited for you and your cute family. I can just picture Savannah being the greatest big sister Eliza could ever ask for! (And of course Hunter and Madison are great big siblings too!) We love you guys!

Kelly T, that's me! said...

Yeah!

lori said...

I can't imagine what a relief it is to be out of a hospital after 8 weeks. Congratulations!

Jed said...

We're thrilled for you and can't wait to see the photos and video of this happy day. You and your family have shown your mettle through it all. Hopefully the oxygen is a short-lived inconvenience as you head into all the craziness of summer.

Linda said...

What a slacker sister you have, Jess. Just now reading up. How's the oxygen? Off? I hope so. You are all in our prayers. We can hardly wait to meet the little tyke in July!

SMcG said...

Hooray! We are thrilled for you. I love reading your blogs and can just picture your kids with the shy smiles and then large grins upon seeing her at home the first time. Also, easy to picture Savannah holding 'Liza for 45 minutes. Incidentally, YOU survived being loved to death quite well, so I'm sure Eliza will thrive.
Lots of love -
Sandra and clan