Evelyn Comes Home

At 10:30pm I had just finished feeding Evelyn and proceeded to get her ready for bed. While changing her diaper, she spit up all over the clean onesie I had just dressed her in. No worries, I thought. We'll just put on another clean onesie after we put on a clean diaper. Just as I sealed the clean diaper, there were loud sounds of pooping. Ok. No worries, we have plenty of diapers. I put on another clean diaper, then another clean onesie. [I should mention she was crying the whole time.] I laughed it off, swaddled her up and placed her in her bassinet at about 11:00, then prayed for a mediocre night's rest. Just as I drifted off to sleep I heard her stirring. I checked my phone to see that only 40 minutes had gone by. We were in for a long night. I carried Evelyn to the rocking chair in her nursery and fed her for about 20 minutes, changed her diaper, then tucked her in her bassinet all over again. About an hour later I woke up to her stirring. By that point my pain medicine was wearing off, I was insanely tired, and had a harder time laughing through it. But Jay gave me the emotional support I needed and we got through our first night at home with Evelyn.

There have been a couple more rough nights since being home but we've also had some really good nights, so that's reassuring. We're just trying to find our groove. Honestly the responsibility of taking care of a newborn doesn't overwhelm me at all. It's the combination of tending to this little human while trying to recover from major surgery that's been a little difficult. My body is sore, making it uncomfortable to sit up in bed, laugh too hard, or do anything that requires much use out of my stomach muscles. But every day I wake up feeling a little bit better than the day before. Our fridge is practically overflowing with meals from ward members, family and friends are offering so much support, Kevin has been tending to Kella for the last week, and Jay is taking three weeks off of work. Overall we're doing really well.

Jay has been an incredible husband, father, and nurse. He's tending to my needs and essentially taking on all the responsibilities of daily life so I can lay in bed with our little one all day. He's getting his rest too of course and spending lots of time with Evelyn. One day I heard him out in the living room telling her about each picture on the wall, then made his way through other rooms in the house- he was giving her a tour! On another occasion, Evelyn was fussing so Jay picked her up, swayed gently back and forth and sang Rihanna's "Diamonds". But he changed the lyrics to: "Shine bright like an Evelyn". It was the best and totally worth the strain on my stomach muscles from laughing so hard.

Even when I'm up in the middle of the night holding my baby girl and I'm SO dead tired, I look down into her sweet innocent eyes and there's just no way I could ever be frustrated with her for keeping me up. I still just can't believe she was once in my belly. And now she's here in my arms. I get to snuggle her and smooch her whenever I want. She's a miracle, and a total dream come true.

Just two days after coming home we took Evelyn on her first outing- a trip to the doctor's for her newborn check up.  

At birth...
Weight: 5 pounds 14 ounces, 8th percentile
Height: 19 inches 48.3 centimeters, 33rd percentile
Leaving the hospital [3 days old]...
Weight: 5 pounds 8 ounces, 3rd percentile
Height: 19 inches 48.3 centimeters, 26th percentile
Check up [5 days old]...
Weight: 5 pounds 12 ounces, 4th percentile
Height: 19.3 inches 48.9 centimeters, 31st percentile

She's still a tiny thing, but she's breastfeeding wonderfully and growing at a healthy rate.

She's also swimming in nearly all her clothes and newborn diapers. I usually dress her in a newborn onesie, or swaddle her with just a preemie diaper on.

Have I mentioned how much we love this peanut?