The First Five Days: Coming Home

*Warning, this post includes accounts of explosive infant poop.

First it must be said that my hospital stay was amazingly wonderful.  With Dutch I was so anxious to get home and in my own bed, eating my own food, and not smelling that wretched hospital smell that I couldn’t leave soon enough.  So this time I was thinking that as soon as they said I could go home I would.  The first night started out rough; Heidi apparently had lots of amniotic fluid/blood in her stomach so she was fussy/spitty/upset all evening. But the blessing was that a friend of mine, from church, is a labor and deliver nurse there at the hospital.  And, amazingly (coincidence? I think not!) she was on duty from 7pm-7am both nights that we were there (which was amazing because she had many days off before and then an entire week off after).  So she was there to help, to take Heidi for us, and just somehow made everything feel wonderful to me.  And I soon discovered, why on earth would I want to go home when I have my meals brought to me, constant care, a jacuzzi bathtub in my room, and a friend with me all night long to take Heidi so I can sleep?  Pretty good deal! Plus I knew a sick two-year-old was awaiting me at home…This time in the hospital, I had no complaints!  Hospital food?  It’s fabulous when it’s brought to you and you’re starving!  I was definitely less picky the 2nd time around! 

The second night Jeff went home to take care of Dutch, who was pretty sick and sleep-deprived by this point.  So he went and had Daddy-Dutch night and Heidi and I stayed. 

Coming home was a shock.  Dutch was still sick, and Jeff needed to get back to work that day.  So we came home that morning, Dutch went into massive panic mode only wanting MOMMY.  Wanting mommy to read, Mommy to hold him, mommy to give him his banana, mommy to carry him around.  Plus he was sneezing everywhere and coughing, so I was constantly wiping down him, me, hands, surfaces, with lysol wipes, and trying to keep him from touching Heidi or her blankets.  Amazing. By Wednesday night when Jeff got home, the house looked like a hurricane hit, and I said to please call my parents and ask them to come the next day.  🙂  They did.

And then it got so much better.  Each day has been better and better. What’s funny is that all week I said, “I”ll be ok as long as the house doesn’t show.”  So what happens? Late thursday night we get a call that the house is showing Friday. :-).  So we clean, then pack up and adventure out Friday afternoon.  Then, Saturday morning, we get a call that the house will show again that very day at 11:30am.  So Megan comes over and hangs with the kids while we straighten up, then we pack up and head to the park for the afternoon with a picnic lunch.  During this time Heidi and I stayed in the car, and she had the most massive explosive poops–three of them!  When I took off her diaper for the first one, it had gone all the way up her back to her neck :-).  Soaked through all her clothes and her blanket. I took off her diaper and started wiping, and she pooped again on me!  Just as I cleaned up that one with a million wipes, she poops out another one!  By now there is poop everywhere and all I can do is laugh.  Eventually we get her clean, back in her carseat totally naked (I ran out of clothes for her!) and we have our picnic lunch in the car.  It was actually an awesome memorable adventure! Then, as soon as we get home, I get another call from a realtor–the house is showing again tomorrow! By now I am laughing out loud. Three times in our first five days at home? What are the odds? Ok Lord, I get it.  You’re in charge. 

—I had to end this post and save it as a draft, and it’s hilarious looking at it now because the second week of HEidi’s life has been so much more insane than the first week I am now laughing.  I have much more to write now but no time to do it! The house ended up showing SIX times the first week of HEidi’s life, and then SOLD the day Heidi turned one week! 🙂  Wow.  I now have TWO unbelievable poop stories, a Butt Paste story that will horrify you, and just for the record, I’ve spent the last two hours crying. 

So, more to tell.  “The First Five Days” has turned into “The First Month” because we are now moving in three weeks! Ha!  And I’m supposed to start back at my internship this week, doing 10 hours of work each week. Hmmm. ANd I have no idea where we’re moving.  Did I mention both my kids seem to have exploding poop episodes more often than normal?  ANyway, many more fun stories to tell, just no time right now because Heidi’s needing me and the dryer buzzer just went off.  I’m perfecting the one-handed laundry-fold, dish-washing, typing, you name it. 🙂  Lots of fun stories to tell…the problem is that I have to live through them.

So there you have it. More to come.  “The First Month” will be nothing but fun stories that hopefully demonstrate God’s sweet mercy in the midst of a crazy season. Enjoy.