Bringing Home Eli

It's now almost a week late but between feedings every three hours, and the lack of sleep grabbed in between I have worked to get you caught up on how we came to bring Eli home.
I already shared in the about us finding out on friday that we would be bringing him home. I then shared the events of Saturday and the first part of Sunday. So it is there that we pick up the rest of the story.

It was Sunday night that we were to room in. What is rooming in? Up to this point the nurses have taken care of Eli. We have come in and fed him a few times, or changed diapers, but no matter what there was always a nurse right there by our side. This was comforting as we are both first time parents and the thought of a tiny human being depending on us for everything was a bit overwhelming.

The nurses taught us how to hold the bottle to feed him, they showed us how to swaddle him, and they helped us to give him the medicines he needed. They also did all of those things for him when we were not there.

The room in was our chance to go solo. We were in a room next to where the nurses were, but we were basically on our own. We got to feed him every three hours, we gave him his medicine, we woke up to comfort him, we were the ones responsible. Now they were right there at the call of a button, but it was up to us to take care of Eli.

Meagan working on some school stuff during our room in process.

There are a few things you should know about staying all night in a hospital if you don't know. First of all, up to this point every time I have slept on a bed that was created by the creative folding and unfolding of a couch it has been a most uncomfortable experience. This was no different. The couch cushion pulled out toward us and the back of the couch came down to be one side of the bed. Ouch.

Not near as good as it looks.

Second, the food in the hospital cafeteria was exactly what you would expect. They gave us meal vouchers for us to go down and get our supper on Sunday, and then again for our breakfast on Monday. Sunday the choices were vegetable lasagna or hamburgers. You know me, I chose the hamburger. Bad choice. The next morning I went with the eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon. The eggs were good.. and they had cereal.

Finally, no one is designed to get sleep in 3 hour increments. Yep every three hours, 3pm 6 pm 9 pm etc... one of us had to wake to feed the sleeping boy. Now granted he's so cute that of course anyone would give their right arm for the chance to hold and feed the baby boy, however if you are not used to it, the 3 hour naps you get in between can take some getting used to. I especially thought it cruel because we had a 7 hour drive home ahead of us.

Loading up in the car.

It was a night to remember, and we made it through. The next day the doctor signed the release order, the lady from the adoption agency came to help with the sign out process, we loaded him up in the car seat and we were on our way.

7 hours, 2 feedings, 4 stops and many miles later we arrived to the place that Eli will call home.

Well that's about it. Since then we have had many new firsts. For instance our first trip to the doctor. However those stories will have to wait for another time.