Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog!

After 5 nights in the hospital we are finally home again. It feels so good to have the whole family together in one place. We had a hurry up and wait morning at the hospital, but managed to get out of there in the early afternoon. When we got home, we decided we were both exhausted and called in backup. Until the backup arrived, Saoirse had a lovely time swinging in the yard on her new tree swing. She absolutely loved it. She also showed some more interest in the grass, touching it and actually walking on it; she even sat down in it once or twice. Saoirse noticed our neighbor's granddaughter playing in the driveway across the street, and we went over and visited for a bit, and played roll the ball. I love seeing Saoirse socialize with other babies and kids. She made some great friends with some siblings of another patient at the hospital. Sometimes I feel like she is so isolated because of infection risk, but I don't want her to miss out on social milestones and friends. It's great to see her enjoying playing with other kids. 


Luckily for us, Saoirse decided to go to bed nicely tonight. The hospital is no place for normal bed times or naps. It's difficult to keep to a bedtime schedule and routine when bedtime coincides with shift change and medication administration. Monday night I rocked her for 3 hours while she went in and out of hyper bouts of play, and port-poking snuggling. After 3 hours your arms become quite tired holding up a flailing and sagging twenty pound baby. It seemed like every time I made some headway in getting her to calm down, someone would come in or some alarm would go off. Needless to say, it made for a very frustrating night. She did stay down until 6 this morning though, which is more than I can say for myself (how she can sleep through having her diaper changed is beyond me, but those nurses and CAs have it down to a science). It will be nice to sleep in my own bed next to my lovely husband tonight. Hospital "parent beds" aren't exactly meant to be luxurious; it will be nice to be able to turn over without the fear of falling off the edge onto the floor. Hopefully the baby will sleep through the night. Fingers crossed.