Bringing Home My Baby

586 days later I finally feel like I brought my baby home. 65 days after her birth we brought her from the hospital into the house. But she wasn't in our room or sharing our bed like I'd done with our other two children. When she came home she was cared for by nurses at night that were carrying out doctor's orders in our home. Everything had to be done exactly so. They even asked me once for doctor's orders to breastfeed! Even when we phased out the last of our nursing care at the end of the year Ainsley remained in the bedroom on the main floor of the house that had been so conveniently setup for the nurses. They could watch her at night from the chair in the living room. They were still be able to watch TV or read so they wouldn't fall asleep, wash equipment in the kitchen or do their medical charting all without disturbing us as we slept upstairs. When that ended we would put her oximeter on her at night and sleep with the baby monitor next to our heads. Running up and down the stairs at 3am (or whatever times) when she needed suctioning. So now the trade-off is that I get to run up and down the stairs during the day while she's napping (also using the oximeter and baby monitor). We've stopped using the feeding pump at night for now and we are using the warm mist only occasionally. So electricity needs of her equipment being upstairs are less of an issue now and the noise isn't as likely to disturb our sleep.

So we spent our Memorial Day weekend rearranging the house. Adrian has swapped rooms with Ainsley. His "room" was really an alcove we considered to be the nursery that was separated by curtains. It just happened that he stayed there until he was 4 5/6 years old. Not exactly a baby anymore. It was a bit of a challenge to get all Ainsley's equipment (and other things) into this tiny space but I think we can make it work after we put up another shelf. Adrian is thrilled to have a big bedroom. We've been talking about it for a few months and he seemed truly ready. He went to sleep last night with no problem and took a nap today even though I haven't gotten darker curtains for him yet. That is until Evie came home from school and stomped up the front steps. Which will no doubt be a problem many days. Since yesterday I've lost count of the number of times he's said "MY room". He's even asked me to invite his friends over to see it, esp. because now he has TOYS. It's very cute.

It was really great, and a little weird, to finally have Ainsley in our room like we'd intended before she was born. She kept popping her head up out of the crib looking around like "What the hey is goin' on?" It was cute. She's pretty easy going and has adjusted fine. At times like this I still have moments of sadness when I think of how much time has passed and all we missed out on. She is hardly a baby anymore. But heck, maybe when she's out of the brace she'll get to sqeeze in bed with mommy (and daddy). And heck if she's on the same schedule as Adrian she'll have 1773 more days in Mommy and Daddy's room.


Adrian's last night in his old room.


Ainsley wondering where all her stuff's gone.


Adrian's first night in his new room.


Ainsley's new room.