Bringing home a newborn is an amazing moment for two first-time parents. It's also somewhat terrifying. Those first couple days in the hospital are quite nice, since you get full-time help. Nurses come by to check on you. They take the baby to the nursery if you and dad want to get a little uninterrupted shut-eye (side note to any to-be mommy's out there - DO THIS, it's the last time you'll have uninterrupted sleep in months), they help you to the bathroom, they offer tips for breastfeeding and swaddling. My husband and I were both very new to babies. Neither one of us had any baby experience. Our daughter 's diapers were the first diapers either of us would ever change.
I'll never forget that first night...
I was brought up to the post-partum room around 10 p.m. The nurses helped get us situated and then before you know it, she left the room and I realized "this is the first time our little family is alone together." We had Emilie go to the nursery for a few hours so we could sleep but then when she came back to eat we had her stay. She started crying and my husband got up, only to realize she had her first poop! In the dark, he stood there, no clue what to do but knew he had to do it. We took one brief general class that covered how to put the diaper on, so luckily he got that right!
As we drove home from the hospital with our little bundle of joy in the back seat I remember being so excited and filled with emotion to officially begin our lives as a family of three. The second we got home, I entered her nursery realizing this was no longer just another room, but in fact, my daughter's room. I sat in the rocking chair holding Emilie and couldn't contain my tears of joy.
One thing I was not expecting...all the tears. I have never been much of a crier, but for the first week I felt like all I did was cry the happiest tears of my life. My husband was no better. We would just sit in bed, holding Emilie and just....cry. This little miracle was finally here. After months of wondering what she looked, how big she was going to be, what her cry would sound like, it was all real now.
No comments:
Post a Comment