Until March 31st, I never realized that our life was truly incomplete. We are enjoying the gift of parenthood more than I could possibly imagine. Addison is such a joy! We were released from the hospital exactly 24 hours after her birth. Monty and I were ready to give life a try outside of the walls of the hospital as quickly as possible. It is true that you get no rest or privacy in there. We had a fantastic experience in Weatherford, but we were ready to introduce her to our home as quickly as possible. My parents and Lisa made dinner for us at our home and then left us to give us a shot at our first night alone.
Thursday night, our first night, was a bit rough. Addison did not feel the need to sleep very much. This is understandable as she slept virtually all day. We made it through our first night with some serious teamwork and her wonderful father secretly enjoyed holding her and talking to her all night. He is so wonderful with her!
Friday we stayed around the house attempting to get everything back in order (laundry, etc.) and ventured to my parent's house for dinner on Friday night. It is crazy how I just forget to eat sometimes. I am so focused on making sure that she is eating, happy, etc. that I will look at the clock and realize that meal time has passed. I hope this will help in my weight loss journey. Monty's dad and grandmother both came for a visit on Friday as well as my mom; they just can't seem to get enough time with her. My mom spent Friday night with Addison to allow us to recover from the limited sleep in the hospital and the prior night. What a lifesaver she is!
We woke up on Saturday morning relaxed and ready to tackle another day. To be honest, by this point I was ready to take her out into the world. Lisa and I took Addison to Target to buy a wedding gift on her third day of life. She did so well, and I am convinced she is going to be a fabulous shopper! Everyone that stopped us could not believe that she was out at three days, but I had to beat my mom's record. She took me to the mall at four days. Monty was glad when we returned; he missed his baby girl!
On Easter Sunday we were not quite brave enough to venture to church quite yet. Truth be told, I was not really sure I could get everyone out of the house in time for the service! We went to Easter lunch at my parent's house which was delicious. We arrived around 12:30 which was a bit of a stretch. I had no idea how much work it is to get ready; I am going to have to speed my routine up.
Monday Addison had her first appointment with her pediatrician, Dr. Ramsey. We had to be in Weatherford at 8:00 and made it without any problems. I only had to wake up at 5:45 to make that happen! She got an excellent report and weighed 7lbs, a loss of 10 oz. from her birth weight. At this point, she had not pooped so we were instructed to come back on Tuesday morning if things had not changed. From there, we went to Monty's grandparent's house for a quick visit then returned to Mineral Wells for an afternoon at home.
We slept in on Tuesday which was really great, but had to return to Weatherford as Addison had not made any progress. In what I am sure will become a trend in our life, she waited until we were in Dr. Ramsey's office to poop. I guess she just wanted an excuse to ride in the car again. We returned to Mineral Wells to eat lunch with our friend Heather. We eat at Taco Casa every Tuesday and wanted to include Addison in our weekly routine. This was Heather's first time to see Addison since she was in the nursery when Heather came to the hospital to visit.
We made our way to Weatherford for our last appointment with our OB/GYN before he moves. It was a sad visit because we really enjoyed getting to know Dr. Miller over the last year, but are thankful that he was our doctor through my pregnancy/delivery with Addison. I got a great report and we were thrilled to introduce Addison to everyone in his office. Following our appointment with Dr. Miller, we met with a lactation specialist because Addison has shown limited interest in eating. Again, during our consultation, she ate like she had never eaten before. If nothing else, the visit reassured me that we are making the right decision to nurse. She has been eating like a champ ever since then. She is a bit lazy when it comes to eating and you have to wake her up to eat, but once she gets going there is no stopping her.
What a blessed first week we have had. God has truly given us both a great gift and an awesome responsibility. I know that our lives are going to continue to fly by and we look forward to the experiences that Addison will bring to our lives.
