Friday night we spent the night with Tabitha at the hospital. They call it the bonding room. I think it is really more of a test to see if you can make it through the night unassisted with your baby.
I guess we passed because she came home with us yesterday afternoon. (We didn't really have to do it because we visit so often but we did it just get used to the fact that we now really have children)
It is so strange because I know the usual routine. Mom goes to the hospital and mom and baby go home. They have been mine for over a month but it still hasn't felt real. I visit at lunch each day and then after work but I have to say goodbye and go home. The nurses take over and the real work begins. A night filled with feedings, changings and the occasional cry.
We brought Tabitha home yesterday and spent our first night at home with her. It went well, not exactly according to plan but well none the less. We are lucky because the nurses stick to a strict schedule so we just need to follow that schedule and deal with the occasional upset baby. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep according to that schedule but Tabitha was just fine.
All of the babies are on a three hour schedule and we hope that in a few weeks we can move them to a four hour schedule and in a couple of months we should have them sleeping mostly through the night. I know that may sound presumptuous to some because we are first time parents but we have had the benefit of some very talented professionals giving us lessons everyday on how to 'do it'. Quite a bit more than the 'parenting' class the hospital had us take as part of our discharge.
While we had hoped to bring them all home at the same time, I am sure breaking us in lightly will be the better method. Parrish and Chloe will be home very soon. They have made it past all of the things they need to do before going home except for feeding from the bottle every feeding. They were moved up to two bottles in a row and then one feeding through their feeding tube *rinse and repeat* yesterday. It was about a week after Tabitha made that change that we were taking her home.
My house is about to get busy...
I'm gonna love it!