Monday afternoon, after we got moved up to the 8th floor and settled into our room, we had just a little bit of quiet time with Kate. We thought we would escape having to check her blood sugar like we did with Owen, but after the nurse talked with our pediatrician, she told us we needed to check her blood sugar because I'd been on a drug that controls blood sugar while I was pregnant (Metformin for my PCOS). Thankfully, Kate passed all 4 blood sugar tests (the last one was the middle of the night). But, because we were doing blood sugar tests, I had to feed her every two hours until she passed her last test. That feeding schedule didn't leave much time for resting.
The kids arrived later that afternoon and Owen finally got to meet Kate. He wasn't sure what to make of her, and got bored really quickly. Scott ended up taking him for walks around the halls of the hospital while the other kids all took another turn holding her.
Just as the kids were getting ready to head home, Uncle Marc and Aunt Kenna came to visit. It was so fun getting to show off my cute little baby. After they left, the pediatrician visited our room and checked Kate. He said she was perfectly healthy, and that he'd be back in the morning to perform a more detailed checkup.
And then we had quiet again, just me, Scott and Kate. With all our other kids, Scott has stayed the night in the hospital with me. This time, I had planned to send Scott home to be with our other kids overnight. I wanted the transition to be as easy as possible on the kids, especially Aaron, and thought that having Dad there to put them to bed and get them up the next morning would be a good thing. So, at 8:30 that evening, I said goodbye to Scott and sent him home.
And then it was just me and Kate. She would eat, then we'd snuggle, then she'd eat some more. I didn't get much sleep that night, because the nurses woke me up to feed her every 2 hours, but I didn't mind. It was really nice having her all to myself. I did miss Scott, though. I wished he could be there to enjoy her with me. And I found myself wishing the kids could be there to share her too. I had planned to stay in the hospital till Wednesday, but by the time Tuesday morning came, I was ready to go home. I was so homesick for the rest of my family, that I wanted to go home to them. And I was feeling so good. The delivery was so easy because she was smaller. I didn't tear at all. I had no residual pain, and just felt like spending another day in a hospital bed would drive me crazy.
My doctor came to visit me at 7 that morning. I told him I was ready to go home, so he signed my discharge papers. I got teary as I thanked him for helping me get this baby. He brushed it off, and said it was nothing. I told him he went above and beyond with this one. All the appointments and ultrasounds in the beginning, making sure Kate survived those first few weeks. He didn't even bill me for all those ultrasounds. He really is a great doctor, and I love that he has been there for every single delivery--all seven babies!
Next was the pediatrician's visit in the nursery. Once again, he found her to be perfectly healthy. After her newborn checkup, I took her back to my room and fed her again. Then I sent her to the nursery while I took a quick shower. Scott arrived just as I finished getting ready (around 10), and we both headed to the nursery to see Kate. With Scott back, we were able to finally give her her first bath.
She didn't love the bath, but she did love lying under the heating lamp.
Later that day Aunt Jamie came to visit, and I got these cute pictures of Kate sleeping in Aunt Jamie's arms.
After Jamie left, I let Scott have some snuggle time with his little girl.
All day we worked to get all of our paperwork and all of Kate's testing done so we'd be able to go home with the kids when they came to visit after school. When the kids arrived we surprised them by telling them that we were going to bring Kate home a day early. They were all very happy.
We loaded our baby into her carseat to bring her home. She looked so tiny in it.
Of course, when we got to the parking lot, we had fighting and tears over who got to ride with us and Kate in the truck, and who had to ride with Grandma and Grandpa in the suburban. Nate, Sara, and Josh were the lucky ones who got to ride with us, and Savannah agreed to ride in the suburban with the promise that she would be the first to get to hold Kate when we got home.
And so at one day old, Kate came home and joined the chaos of our busy family of 9.
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