Day 2

This hospital stay was a different one for us. We switched insurance plans after Mary was born, knowing that any future babies we had would be born through Kaiser. I have to say that change was more concerning to me than almost anything about the pregnancy. I was worried about delivering with a different doctor at a different hospital. Our beloved doctor and the nurses at CPMC left big shoes to fill. But, Kaiser it was for Luke, and with a doctor I'd never met before. To boot, he was born in Redwood City because the San Francisco labor and delivery floor was full that day. So, Luke is our only baby not born in San Francisco---poor guy. I'm sure he'll recover ;)


Beyond the location change, though, this hospital stay was unique in that I stayed on my own with Luke for much of the time. In the past, Matt has stayed with me and the baby/babies for the entire time, but I really felt like it would benefit everyone more if he was home to help the girls, especially since our hospital stay coincided with three school days, soccer practices and multiple Halloween parades. I know how tricky it is to get everyone where they need to be on a "normal" day, and even though Grandma was there, I didn't want it to be too chaotic for her.

I kind of felt like a single mom without Matt by my side, but I absolutely loved every minute of my time with Luke in the hospital. The nurses brought me everything I needed, and I didn't exactly need help with nursing or taking care of Luke. In fact, they were some of the most relaxing nights I've had in a long time! I stared at him while he slept, took pictures and napped. If a new nurse wandered in and started to feel sorry for me being on my own, I was quick to show them a picture of the gaggle of girls at home that I was escaping ;) Then they felt sorry for Luke instead!

Just look at those little feet! I tried to appreciate the alone time I got with him, knowing chaos would ensue the moment we returned home.

Actually, we didn't need to wait until we got home for that! The girls came by for a visit with Grandma after school on Wednesday, and boy were they excited to get another peek at Luke. I just love these pictures of him surrounded by such adoring sisters.

Of course, they all wanted to hold him. They also all wanted to play with the privacy curtains, use the bathroom, wash their hands, roll around on the ground, play on the furniture, ask the nurses for juice and ice cream...I could go on. We just got pictures of the sweet stuff though :)

I hope they always remember that day. They had all enjoyed Halloween festivities at school (and face painting for Tessa!), and told anyone that would listen about their new baby brother! For them to be able to see him again was just so exciting :) Even Mary was beside herself. She looks a little sad in the picture above, but she just desperately wanted to hold Luke. All was right again in the world after this, though. Grandma was making them tacos for dinner. A new baby brother and tacos on the very same night?! What could be better than that?

When they left that afternoon, I think Luke and I both breathed a little sigh of relief that we had one more night of calm before the storm!