Part 4: The Aftermath (Okay, there's 4 parts, not three)
Once we got back to the room, we began to realize that they had no plans to let us have you in our room that night. They told us that the pediatrician would be in at 8:00 a.m. to assess cardiac function and that you had to stay on the monitor in the nursery until then. I was incredibly disappointed that I had waited 37 weeks and 5 days, pushed for 3 hours and was not holding a baby and wouldn’t until the next morning. Also, I was so worried about you down there in the nursery all by yourself. I made Daddy go check and you and talk to you and rub you a few times. Finally, about 8 p.m. you got hungry and one of the nurses got the bright idea to call said pediatrician and find out what they were supposed to do about that (since I had planned to BF you) what with the immobile monitor and all. THANKFULLY, the pediatrician thought they were a little nuts to leave you on the monitor all night long and said to bring you to our room. I was still recovering up in labor & delivery so they brought you up, I BF you and you promptly fell asleep. We finally had our little muffin all to ourselves. Daddy brought you in your bassinet when they moved us down to the maternity floor. It was kind of that the nurse who taught our birthing class was on duty and helped move us down to maternity. After that, you stayed with us, except for a fair bit of testing and a few hours that night when they insisted that we sleep, for the rest of our 4 day stay.
A few funny little things that we remember about you those first days:

• Your nose was squished to one side and bruised from your head being stuck in the birth canal, your leg was also bruised from being stuck and the bruise was recorded as a birthmark and you still had your lanugo (dark, downy hair that protects the skin in utero) in several places but the most fun was on your ears.


• You were a bit stubborn from the very first day. We know this because once you sampled a bottle (mandated by the doctor every three hours due to your jaundice), you did “the plank” every time we tried to get you to BF. You seemed to think the extra work involved in BF-ing was highly overrated. And you were teeny weeny, itty bitty.


• Daddy changed all your diapers during those first four days. The nurses ordered him all around waiting on the two of us. Daddy and I were so tired, most of the time we just shared my hospital meal rather taking the effort to go get take out.


• We called Catherine, the daycare provider we had interviewed Saturday morning, from the hospital in a panic on Monday morning to reserve the infant spot since we had nothing else lined up that point. We also had to have the nurse fax in my maternity leave paperwork and line up someone to do some data collection that I had scheduled for work that day. I guess you could say we were a little surprised that you arrived when you did!

But we enjoyed every sleep deprived, baby crying, mommy in pain minute of it because we were so excited that our 37 week, 5 day wait was over and you were finally here! Below are pictures of you in your B*ppy at 5 days old and 1 year, 5 days old. Over 12 months, the baby who loved to sleep quietly in her B*ppy has grown into the baby who is angry at her Mommy for daring to request that she lay in her B*ppy for a 30 sec photo op!