Good things come to those who wait.
Despite one of Amy’s greatest fears about birth being that Will might have to be in the NICU if he was born early, he still had to do some time in the NICU when he arrived close to his expected date. (And she’d share her fears herself with you, but… let’s just say, she’s keeping busy as a new mom and I’m a bit more tenacious when it comes to the Internet).
Earlier on Tuesday (10.5), Amy was given the go-ahead to take our little mister home. So in the afternoon, after he experienced the joy of being circumcised, I trekked over to the hospital to pick up the rest of this happy trio. Upon arriving, I was given the duty of bottle-feeding the tyke, and after successfully surviving an ocular migraine, I escorted momma and baby to the car to escape the clutches of the hospital.
While still in a private room on the NICU, we loaded baby William into his car seat/carrier for the first time (I got it all on video. It took us about four minutes to load him, strap him in, and do a crash test. …OK, I’m kidding about the last part). I carried Sir William in his wee chariot and deposited the carrier into the car seat base without stirring him. In fact, by the grace of God, we were able to pick up dinner on the way back and arrive home — all without ever disturbing the mini-man.
When we arrived home, we kept him in the car seat. We spread our luxurious takeout of Five Guys Burgers & Fries across our living room coffee table, but wee William decided it was prime time to wake up.
Party foul.
This is where babies train their parents.
Amy smartly kept him within leg’s reach and we took turns rocking him in the seat while we ate. Success! Then it came time to change him, feed him, and the like… All new rituals to insert into this household.
With crying fits sprinkled throughout the evening, we managed to get our duties done. And where, previously, Amy would normally nod off to sleep after eating, “Junior” found ways to interrupt her peace… yet another new experience for the John & Amy dynamic (Amy quite literally has a sleeping disorder called narcolepsy, so she is prone to falling asleep while driving, after eating, or while watching TV… she’s truly gifted at the art of sleeping. But now she’s met her match in the challenge of caring for a newborn! I take some morbid pleasure in watching him disrupt this).
As I type this, mother and baby are sleeping nearby on the couch. Both have lost the wee-hour sleep war… and I myself am ready to run up the white flag myself.
It’s a brand new thing for us to have a mini-human in our house, so this will surely be an interesting journey!
