One Week Later

I'm up at one of those hours that only parents of newborns are up at and thought I would update what has been going on so far. We have had the little guy home with us for a week and it has been an amazing time.

The baby was born at 10pm, Wednesday, March 30 at VCU Medical Center in downtown Richmond, Virginia. During the next two days of visits to the hospital we experienced the Final Four frenzy that all of Richmond was under.

Friday, April 1st was spent at the hospital waiting for paperwork to be completed. It was very much a hurry up and wait kind of day.

The baby's discharge was complicated by paperwork between the hospital and the adoption agency, but eventually all was worked out. Hunter and I walked out with the baby along with R, her mother and Debra from the adoption agency. We had a brief, but heartfelt goodbye with R and her mom.

And then, we were on our way. I was so tired at that point and we still had 85 miles to go to get home. I was never so happy to make those last few miles home. Waiting for us in the driveway was my cousin, Lesly. She just edged out my parents to be followed by Hunter's parents. The baby slept the whole way home and didn't let out a peep as everyone held him and cooed at him.

I have to admit, Hunter and I were very bad parents the first 2 nights. The baby did not want to sleep on his own, so we took turns holding him while in the recliner, even at night. Of course, I took some criticism for this from my mom. Sunday night was the hardest. But I eventually, out of frustration, put him to bed on his own around 4am. I waited a whole hour to make sure he didn't wake up and then I went to bed. But not before announcing to Hunter that if he cried, Hunter was in charge. I laid in bed for another hour with eyes wide open and eventually got up around 6am to check on him. Hunter jumped out of bed from a sound sleep. "Is he crying?" he asked. No, I said. But how can you sleep, I cried, obviously delirious from exhaustion. Hunter just quietly got up and stood watch while I got some sleep.

I awoke later Monday morning with Hunter telling me he had fed the baby, changed his diaper and the baby had slept 2 additional hours in his sleeper on his own. This was a breakthrough and I was so relieved. We took him to his first pediatrician appointment later that day and stopped by my office so everybody could meet him.

The rest of the week has been filled with a mix of visitors and getting into a routine. We feel so lucky. He is such a good baby. He is just right for two middle-aged, first-time parents. Oh, and our cat, Sassafras, who is very shy of all who come to visit, she has given him 2 (or is it 4) paws up! Except for the crying parts, that is.