Here we are over a month after Erwin came home, weighing 2125g (4lb 9oz), and she hasn't looked back.
Originally we had planned on bringing Erwin home on October 29th, and had left a whole lot of "getting ready" for the evening of the 28th. The plan being, that we would rush around setting up her bed and tidying the house for the big day. However when we arrived at the NICU on the 28th, the nurse looked at us and said "Is it possible for you to take her home today? We don't have room for her here anymore." Some graduation!
Luckily, we had the car seat. We had to tighten the car seat straps as small as they would go, then put a rolled-up face cloth between her chest and the seat belt straps in order to get her properly tied in. She looked very small in that "huge" car seat. And off we went, with a teeny baby in a car seat, a bag of frozen milk, and two pillow cases full of her laundry and meagre worldly possessions.
As it turns out, it was a good thing that we were kicked out early. Even as we drove home, the season's first snow storm started dropping big white flakes, and as we turned up the driveway the fields on either side were white. Erwin spent the night sleeping on a couch cushion that we did up as a mini bed, as we had not had time to get ready. She did not sleep very soundly, probably because it was far too dark and too quiet for her after weeks in the noisy NICU. We also did not sleep soundly, due to the little grunting noises Erwin made about every 15 minutes. Of course, when she stopped making them, we would hold our breath waiting to hear a sound indicating that she was still alive and breathing. Let's just say that when Grandma arrived the next morning, braving our 500m driveway covered in 10-15cm of snow, we were happy to see her!
The first few days at home were a blurr of diaper sewing (thanks, Grandma!), feeding, pumping milk, burping, cooking, cleaning and getting back to the work of living again. What a relief! No more fixed feeding schedule; Erwin decides when to eat. Which is usually when we are trying to get something done or just drifting into blissful sleep.
The next few weeks were filled with a series of appointments in which various specialists poked and prodded her then said "she looks great, no need to come back". Eyes, kidneys, heart, general health—she passes all tests.
Now that December has arrived, things have slowed down, and we only go to one or two appointments a week, one of which is our regular lactation consulting appointment. Most of our time is spent at home, warm and cozy by the wood stove, working away on our respective theses while Erwin tries to distract us (which she does with a certain degree of success). We are now getting between 3 and 4 1/2 hours of sleep at a time at night and Erwin is working her way slowly to being entirely breastfed.
She has gained weight relatively steadily (now 3kg or 6lb 7oz) with a few minor bumps along the way, but I don't think that Erwin will ever be a pudgy baby, as she is a serious wriggler. Her latest antics include pumping her feet in and out continuously during every diaper change, pushing her feet out when nursing, pushing herself up on her forearms (almost), and holding her own head up when she is being carried around. When she is tummy to tummy with one of us when we are leaning back in the couch, she likes to push herself up into a standing position and arch her back while pushing with her arms. in other words, she launches herself quite effectively out of our laps. We have to be very careful. Alternately, she will push her head up into my chin as I am working away on my laptop, effectively distracting me.
In our next update we will let you know how much Erwin has enjoyed staring at Christmas lights and playing with boxes and wrapping paper.
Grandma came to hang out with me and my Mom and Dad during my first week at home. I kept everyone busy feeding me, washing my diapers, and keeping me clean and happy. It was great to be home.
Here I am enjoying a bath:
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the first week:
