What A Busy First Week

Monday {Night}

We got home very late Monday night, about midnight-ish. See the cute welcome home note from Grandmom?

First, we took Elliott into his room and, one at a time, introduced the dogs to him. They were all great and each of them had different reactions. Henry was very gentle and curious. Alex was super excited to see us and nonchalantly gave him a couple licks. Molly was timid but very interested and intrigued, she kept her distance and (literally) slowly doggy crawled to him to give a sniff. While we were still in the hospital we sent home a blanket and a hat with Elliott's scent on them in hopes that the dogs could be a little familiar with him before he got there. (No clue if that worked... just one of those things we heard in the childbirth class and thought it couldn't hurt to try.)

It was so hard to go to sleep the first night; I had a living, breathing little human next to me in my room. I was responsible for this. No pressure (yeah, right!). We did get some sleep but he was pretty fussy. We're pretty sure it was the donor milk they had to give him that upset his stomach. Thankfully my mom was there to help after I went in her room with a screaming baby and a desperate, "Mom, can you please help me? What do I do?"

Tuesday

Tony had to go back to school today; thank goodness my mom was here to help! We had follow up appointments today for bilirubin levels. First we had to go to the lab at Norman Regional Healthplex for them to draw blood and run the test. It's not easy seeing people draw blood from your baby so often, but luckily it's just from his heel and he is an absolute champ through it without any crying. From the hospital we went over to Dr. F.'s office for the results and a check. The levels were fine so we didn't need to worry about that anymore! Now our focus was on getting some weight gain. At this check he was down to 6lbs 13oz. Luckily, my milk came in while we were out at all of these appointments!

Wednesday

This was my due date. It was also one of the hardest days of my life. Our sweet girl Alex went to doggy Heaven. We had successfully been treating her seizures for quite a while and she had been doing great, so this was quite unexpected. She had a few awful seizures that morning and Tony rushed her to the vet. They kept her there to try and see what they could do but that afternoon when we went to visit her she still had not recovered; she was confused and did not recognize us and just wasn't coming out of it. The vet seemed to think she had a brain tumor that just got worse over time and the seizures today left her brain damaged. With the help of one of the kindest vets, she was even shedding tears with us, we had to make the hardest decision to let her go. Not only was it absolutely heartbreaking to say goodbye, I was extra emotional and hormonal which made it even worse. She was the most friendly and happy dog I've ever known. She gave us 9 years of laughs, puppy dog licks, and love. I will always always miss her.

Before bedtime Elliott got his first bath at home. Let's just say, he didn't really like it at first! However, after a little while, he calmed down and decided it wasn't so bad after all.

Thursday

We had another follow up at the pediatrician to check weight and Elliott was up to 7 lbs 3 oz! Way to go, Buddy, you're doing so great and eating like a pro! And Daddy was able to meet us at the appointment! We really like Dr. Fields, your pediatrician.

Friday

Today we had to go to OU Children's for a research study appointment. During my pregnancy I agreed to be part of a study; the perks were payments for our time each time we had to go in and extra ultrasounds! After the appointment, Tony's mod mates came across the street to the hospital and got to meet and love on Elliott! That afternoon, my mom went home for the weekend... And, I'm sorry to say, Elliott, that night we had to initiate you to the dreaded place called Walmart.