Guess what greeted us at the door as we brought our new daughter home a couple days ago? The mailman had delivered a too-big-for-the-mailbox package right inside our house. I saw the name, "Brandie," on the package and smiled. You gave our family a warm fuzzy right off the bat. You Joes are so awesome.
Our new little girl is so pink, cuddly, and quiet. I've been cuddling her for quite awhile. I grow more in love with her every time.
In no particular order, here are some random thoughts:
1) I'm so glad that our daughter is breastfeeding. Sorry if that makes any of you childless people nautious and uncomfortable...but let me tell you that I am SO GLAD that we may never have to wash another bottle or mix another formula again. My son, born a preemie a few years ago, had no suckling instincts...he was fed by a tube through his nose for awhile then the nurses worked tirelessly with him to get him to take a bottle. Bottles are easier to suck than breasts, so I'm told, so once he mastered the bottle he had no reason to work any harder for his meals. That made his feedings a multi-step process: Pump my milk, freeze some, drive it to the NICU, feed him some, wash the bottles, and by then it was time to pump again. If I never see another bottle again it will be too soon.
So I thank God for my fully-functioning breasts and my daughter's natural sucking instincts. This is SO MUCH EASIER!!
2) She is so cuddly, pink, and perfect.
3) I should have mentioned this first, but I'll say it now: My husband has got to be the best daddy / husband in the universe. Let me tell you some of the things he's done in the past few days (I'd try to list them all, but I'd be stuck on the computer forever.)
He sewed little pink mittens for our daughter.
He cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed the bedroom, did the laundry (he often does these things anyway!) all while I was sitting on my rump feeding our little girl.
Right now he's out with our son at indoor mini-golf. Like a Father / Son night out. Michael was getting beyond restless today...naughty little boy provoking every one of my pet peeves...It became clear that he needed some excitement. We've been showering him with attention because we don't want him to feel left out of the new sibling thing...but all the attention in the world hasn't been enough. So he deserves this time out with Daddy. And it's nice for me to cuddle with our little girl uninterrupted, daydream, (and do some laundry).
He put together her little pink bouncer.
He kept his cool and kept on loving me even after I threw a tantrum, shattering two glasses and a bowl on the kitchen floor, broke his halogen bicycle light, threw all of our shoes down the basement staircase, and even after I slammed every door in the house that I encountered along the way. After I did all that he committed to staying with us that evening to help clean the house, when he was looking forward so much to going to his calculus class. (Don't you think most men would have said, "See Ya!" ?) See, he's an absolute saint. If anything ever goes wrong with our marriage, first of all it would probably be my fault, and secondly, let me tell you gals to start lining up now because he's the most awesome husband / daddy in the universe. I know that's a weird thing to say, but I can't emphasize enough what a good guy he is and how fortunate our family is to have his complete devotion.
He made us a homemade pizza for lunch.
He bought me cranberry juice, and I didn't even ask him to. (I fell in love with cranberry juice at the hospital.)
He loves and cuddles our little girl with all his heart every chance he gets. He wishes he could feed her too. I wish he could too.
He suggested a more suitable outfit for her than the one we'd bought...we had no idea how tiny she would be. The only thing we have that fits her right now is the same outfit that our preemie Michael came home in 3 years ago. It's a teeny-tiny pastel-yellow footie outfit. Just precious. She'll be living in that for awhile!
He posted an announcement on JoeUser. And figured out on his own how I post pictures. He found my photobucket account and everything. He's so clever.
He took a month off work for this blessed occasion. Merely by chance, our daughter was born the very day his leave started. He's happy about that because every day of his leave can be spent enjoying our daughter.
4) Ahh, yes, why she was born on the 8th. She was actually due on the 7th but I felt no signs of her coming any time soon. I had a routine OB appt scheduled that day. I mentioned in my last blog entry that we were concerned that she hadn't been moving much in my womb, so we told the doctor about that lack of movement. He was concerned so ran 3 tests on her. After the third test didn't look so perfect, he sent me up to labor & delivery. In the end, the lack of movement didn't turn out to be the problem; but the third test showed that the placenta was "old" (in layman's terms that's all I know) and she wasn't getting all the nutrients she needed. So they induced me. John wept sweet loving tears when she was born. Seeing him cry made me cry too.
5) I keep referring to her as "little girl" because, well, let's just say that when we got home and were spending time together, I went to refer to her by name, and out slipped, "Emily." Emily? Who the heck is that? I don't know, and I've never particularly favored the name, but somehow it suits her. It "feels" right. I look at her and see "Emily" all about her. Her content little face seems more content when I put "Emily" with it.
As for "April" well it's my favorite month of the year, and beautiful in so many ways, but I just haven't been able to call her that. Yeah I know it's too late since her name has already been submitted for her birth certificate and social security card. But even if I can't have her name changed I'm afraid I'm going to be the weirdo who calls her Emily. My husband says I have "problems." But I already knew that.
