We have been home for just over a week from the hospital. On one hand it seems like it has been longer (maybe that is just the sleep deprivation) yet it does not seem like our little girl is already almost two weeks old (we go Thursday for Leia’s two week check up, please pray her biliruben is down and weight gain is sufficient). I kept laughing at my sister when she told me to enjoy feeding, changing diapers, etc while pregnant since it would be the easiest time I would ever have to care for Leia. I am not laughing anymore and understand what she was saying; pregnancy is easy in comparison to the first few weeks of a new life with the sleep deprivation, worries, and demands put on a new mom so soon after your body has worked to bring a little being into the world. It certainly was easier to protect, feed, and care for a little life inside my belly; all I had to do is take care of myself. As a mom it seems as if I am never alone in thoughts any longer no matter what I am doing or who is taking care of Leia. Every time I think about something there is a thought in the back of my head on how it will impact Leia and if she is sleeping peacefully if someone else is with her. To top it off the exhaustion getting up every 2-3 hours to feed and running on 1 – 1 ½ hours of sleep at a time has me more emotional than ever before (thank you Chris for all your support! I promise we will have normalcy soon, this will only last a little while). No matter what it is that I am thinking or how tired I get, it is all worth it when I look into my little girl’s eyes. I see unquestionable trust and know that her daddy and I would do anything for her. Luckily, we all have a GREAT support system. Since we left the hospital, Leia and mom has gone to two breastfeeding group classes and gotten to talk to other new moms for encouragement, our new family has had a few outings to visit Mimi and Poppa house, aunt Stacy, uncle Mark, Sara and Katie house, to the doctor once, and a special visit to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas. Mommy and Leia spent the night at Mimi and Poppa’s house so daddy could rest more and get some Christmas shopping finished (Daddy suggested we spend the night, sleep deprived and working are not a good combination plus we needed to finish up the Christmas shopping!) We are looking forward to next week since Daddy will be off with us the rest of the year. Below are pictures that range in time from the day before daddy and mommy left to go to the hospital through day 12 of Leia’s life that was taken with my camera (some of these may be repeated from Chris’s posts but I was not going through to filter them out so there were not duplicates and I don’t have the ones that Chris took with the big camera to post at this time, maybe he can add those shortly).
Chris, Leia, Sierra and I also would like to thank Grandpa and DeeDee for coming over while we were at the hospital to care for the house and our Puppy Dog, fixing dinners to leave in the refrigerator for mommy and daddy, and cleaning up the house and yard (the flowers make me smile every time I walk outside Darrell!). Also, we would like to thank Mimi and Aunt Stacy for coming over while daddy had to work to help care for mommy and Leia with words of encouragement, making sure mommy had time to rest, cleaning up, taking me to breast feeding support group, and cooking. Thank you Mimi and Poppa for letting Leia and mommy stay a couple nights so daddy could rest, straighten up the house, and finish our Christmas shopping (Mimi we owe you a few hours of rest for staying up with us). Finally, thank you to all our friends and family for coming to visit us while we were in the hospital, cooking dinners to bring over to the house so we don’t have to worry about cooking, and/or your prayers. Please, continue to keep our family in your prayers as we continue to adjust and bond as a family.