First Night Home - SURVIVED

We actually did pretty well, after having a pretty awful first afternoon (nothing bad, just new parent jitters combined with my lack of prescription painkillers. By 8ish, we were looking pretty good.)

We finally got the baby's crib fully set up (we'd been avoiding putting the mattress in so the cats wouldn't sleep in it. From now on, we're just keeping the bedroom door closed so the cats can't get in her crib or hide out under the guest bed.) The plan was that she'd sleep in her crib, Tim would sleep in our bed, and I would sleep in the bedroom with the baby just for the first night to make sure everything went smoothly. We laid Ellie down in her crib around midnight and all curled up into bed. She was basically not having it.

They told us in the hospital that you have to remember that your baby is used to being snuggled up in a very small space, where they can feel you and hear your heartbeat. The crib is basically the opposite of that. There's a lot of space, and in the modern era you're not supposed to have ANY blankets or pillows or toys in the crib - just the baby. So she got lonely in there and let me know. I ended up getting up with her and snoozing on the couch with her on my chest (and Lulu on my feet. Lulu is tolerant of the baby and will sit with her on the couch. And when I held Ellie over to her for a viewing in the middle of the night, she sniffed the baby and then licked her face.) We got a couple of good two hour stretches in there between feedings and changings. Tim was sleeping so hard that I could hear him snoring.

At 7, he got up and sat with her, and I went back to our bed for a delicious two hour sleep. Now we are all hanging out on the couch, watching football and awaiting the next feeding. She's a pretty good baby - she sleeps for about 2-3 hours at a stretch and then nurses for about a half hour. She really only fusses when she's hungry or has dirty pants. And she submits to me kissing her ALL THE TIME. It's her own fault for being so stinking cute.