We're home!

Eleanor and I were discharged from the hospital just after lunch today. It is so nice to be home! Hunter and a friend of ours surprised Eleanor and I with beautiful balloons on the mailbox to welcome us home, and later in the day Hunter's mom and step-father arrived. They'll be staying with us for several days and they certainly enjoyed meeting Eleanor.

Eleanor passed both her hearing and jaundice tests with no problem. The pediatrician said she is perfectly healthy but of course we need to work on bringing her weight up. I am feeling great - I actually feel better physically than I have for a month or two! I'm barely sore at all, but I am trying to make sure I take it easy and drink plenty of water. Feeding Eleanor every two hours (during the day) can be quite consuming! It's definitely worth it though.

The first days

Eleanor is having her hearing test done, so I have a few minutes.

Tonight we had our "celebration meal" that the hospital provides. It was so nice with rolls, salad, dinner, and dessert. For dinner I had the Surf N Turf (lobster and a tiny piece of filet mignon) and Hunter had New York Sirloin. Dinner also came with a bottle of sparkling apple juice and plastic flutes...very nice for a hospital. Eleanor got hungry in the middle of the meal, but we didn't mind.

Feeding has been a little bit of an issue. I'm nursing and it's just been pretty painful. A lactation consultant has been working with me and I think things are getting better, but it's been frustrating at times. Apparently I have a great supply though, but we've had latching problems and I'm just not sure if she's getting enough. The nurse told us something different than what we had heard about how many wet diapers she should have, and now Hunter is stressed out. I found a couple of sites online supporting what we thought (2 or 3 wet diapers on day 2 is great....the nurse said she should have 6-8), so I'm satisfied. My husband the scientist, on the other hand, says, "I need empirical research" and he's searching all kinds of journals. He won't be satisfied until he finds it there.

Overall we are just loving this baby! She is so, so cute and so sweet! She loves to be rocked or held close. She's only really gotten upset and cried once (besides the brief crying all babies do when you change their diaper or their clothes) and I would say she's a pretty happy baby. We go home from the hospital tomorrow, so that's when the big adventure begins!

A few more pictures

Admiring her daddy in the middle of the night

Pictures!!!

Meeting Eleanor!

She had to stay in the warmer for a little while because her temp was low.

Our sweet Eleanor

Mom and baby

Dad admiring his new daughter - and no, he wasn't as afraid to touch her as it looks here!

Eleanor meeting her cousins and Aunt Monica

Aunt Monica and Eleanor

Eleanor meeting her Uncle Japheth

Julie got to hold her new little cousin

Eleanor is HERE!!!

Eleanor was born at 9:30am on Wednesday, July 22nd. She weighs 7lbs. 3oz. and is 21in. long. Everything went well, and VERY quickly! She looks just like me (poor thing, this is Hunter writing). Beth will post more when she's done hogging Eleanor.

My water broke!

I didn't actually get any sleep last night except for maybe two hours or so, but thanks to the drugs I was able to rest all night. I don't know why, but I just couldn't quite fall asleep until after 2:00. I woke up around 4:15 to some uncomfortable contractions. I don't know that I'd call them painful - they're like pretty strong cramps. I was also feeling some pressure and felt like my water was about to break. Then the nurse came in at 5:00 and removed the cervadil. She did another exam and lo and behold, my water broke. It may have actually broken sometime during the night, but neither of us are sure. I am now dilated 2-3 cm, so not much difference there, and I went from being 60% to 80% effaced.

I got to take a shower and now I'm waiting for Hunter to come back and for the pitocin to start. There's no turning back now! :)

Good night!

Well, nothing has changed over the last two hours. There are still very mild contractions, but the nurse explained that they're just from the cervadil and it's the cervix softening. The real ones will start tomorrow with the pitocin! They're going to give me a shot soon to make me sleep, and then around 5:00 or 6:00 AM they'll take out the cervadil, give me an hour to shower and rest, and then start the pitocin around 7:00.

Hunter and I walked around a little bit and it felt good to get up for a while. We are in a different room than last year (I made sure to request that) but we are next door to the room where Ada was born. It was a little sad to walk by there, but overall we've had a good evening. We've pretty much just sat here and watched Gilmore Girls DVD's and the contraction monitor.

The nurses here are so nice. The one who was with me when Ada was actually born stopped by earlier to say hi - she remembered us. Then the nurse who's here overnight came in to explain everything that's happening and she even asked me questions about Ada. I'm glad to be at this hospital again.

Hunter just left for the night - I wanted him to. The fold out chair they have here for guests to sleep in is awful and he could never sleep in it last year. I want him with me overnight tomorrow, so I figured it was important that he get good sleep tonight since I'll be drugged anyway. He's only a phone call and a 20 minute drive away if anything happens.

So, I guess that's it for the night unless anything changes! I'll write more in the morning.