Bringing her home...

I was on bed rest with preeclamsia for less than a week when I began getting terrible headaches.  They decided to induce me in the early morning hours of March 14, 2010 and at 12:33a on March 15th, I pushed my little darling out into the arms of the doctor.  There was a swarm of nurses waiting to snatch her up and check her vitals.  I peered over at her little cradle as they did their tests trying to get a glimpse of her.  A nurse brought her to me for 5 minutes, where DH and I smothered her face with kisses and then she was whisked off to the NICU.

Because I was preeclamptic, I was on magnesium for a full 24 hours after the birth and was unable to get out of bed.  I didn't get to see DD until the morning of March 16th.  It was the LONGEST day and night of my life.  I sent DH to see her and take pictures for me.  Then I was discharged and DD had to stay.  I cried the entire ride home and broke down into sobs sitting at my kitchen table and feeling totally overwhelmed.

For 17 days, which felt like a lifetime, I visited DD in the NICU two or three times a day for several hours at a time.  Even to this day, the smell of Purell Hand Sanitizer takes me right back to that time.  When we were finally told we could bring her home, it was such a relief!  We nervously strapped her into her car seat and watched the nurse snap her into the car.  As we drove home, Shawn watched us in the rear view mirror.  We just couldn't believe she was finally coming home.

When we got home, we left her in the carseat and placed it on the floor.  Our dog, Beene and our cat, Rocky came running in to see what the excitement was about.  Rocky sniffed her cautiously and ran away to hide.  Beene sniffed her and licked her face.  We knew our family was finally complete!

Then suddenly I panicked because we didn't take any of the plastic nipples from the NICU and we had NO bottles!! At this point I thought we were doomed as parents because we couldn't even think of buying something simple like bottles.  Remember, she had come early!  So I hadn't had any baby showers and my MIL had warned me on purchasing anything prior to birth as bad luck. 

So while she slept in her bassinet, all swaddled in a blanket, DH screeched out of the driveway to the closest store to buy bottles.  When he returned, he was sweaty and red-faced and dropped a huge bag on the table.  He had purchased four different brands of bottles because he didn't know which ones to get!  We laughed at our parenting skills and then DH took pictures as I changed her first diaper and fed her a bottle for the first time at home. We really weren't very confident at first and it took a lot of trial and error before we got into our groove!

I remember feeling like I was in a dream and that any minute I would wake up in the NICU recliner next to her cradle.  And although most of my memory of that time has now vanished due to lack of sleep and mommy brain - I will always remember how I felt that day.  So proud to be a mom and so happy to have her safe in our home!