By Friday, we were cleared to go home. Thank goodness. It was going to be a relief to be with our new daughter all the time, instead of just being called to visit and feed every few hours.
We were surprised to see balloons on our mailbox, signs on our door, streamers in our house and a home cooked meal in our fridge thanks to Michael's sister and family. (Of course we also had a dead beta in the fish bowl - thanks to Cathy who never buried him when he died on November 3.)
Well before long we realized the truth ... we were on our own now. Famous first lines uttered that night ... "So where is her new storage compartment?" I'll let you guess who said this!
I'm not ashamed to say that on that first night we didn't have a clue. All of a sudden normal easy tasks like feeding the cats, making dinner or pretty much anything had to be orchestrated and planned so someone could be watching the baby.
That first night Stephanie was having no part of sleeping. We tried lights out, lights on, music on, music off, bassinet normal, bassinet elevated, heated, not heated. We fed, she cried, we rocked, she cried, we offer pacifier, she cried. And then she cried some more. Finally at 6 a.m., I gave in and gave her a bottle. Worked like a charm. She slept soundly for a few hours - and probably thought nighttime started at 6 a.m. Oops.
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