Now that Ben is home with us it feels much more like we are a family. Life is so much calmer, we’re so much happier and everything feels normal and natural. We are so overwhelmingly happy to be home!
On Sunday morning we found out that Ben was getting discharged, and by some miracle, our nurse was able to expedite the process and we were out of there before 9 a.m.! As it turns out, our doctor basically wanted to make sure we were competent parents and would be able to feed Ben safely while he is still maturing. Thankfully we passed his test.
Walking out of the hospital with Ben in tow felt so incredibly liberating. We were free to start our new life together as an independent family!
Because we didn’t want to jinx anything or get our hopes up we really didn’t talk about what to do when we got home on Sunday. We spent a while getting settled and introducing Henry and Jackson to Ben, then we enjoyed a relaxing day at home, took Ben on a walk around the neighborhood to show him around, and celebrated with a bottle of bubbly rose on the porch. The weather is just turning into summer now and we were welcomed home by a gorgeous day with an absolutely picture perfect forecast to follow.
We’re still trying to figure things out with Ben, but so far everything is going really well! He is eating SO well and we have a newfound confidence, enjoyment and comfort in feeding Ben now that we’re at home.
Ben is going through a growth spurt and has been having cluster feedings the last two evenings, so that’s throwing us for a loop with trying to figure out a quasi-feeding schedule for him {and also keeping a stock of clean bottles on hand!}, but he has been sleeping really well in between feedings. It’s really hard to know how much to feed Ben and when, given the cluster feedings, but he is eating an enormous amount, so at least we know he’s getting enough to eat.
Our major focus right now is enjoying our time at home as a family. Alex and I are extremely fortunate to have the rest of the summer off of work to spend time together with Ben. We are so excited to go for walks around our neighborhood, take Ben to some of our favorite places in Washington and simply be together and create memories.
While the last seven weeks have been really, really tough, every cloud has a silver lining. Alex and I got to spend so much time together and this experience only brought us together. After what we’ve been through we have a really different perspective on parenting and will have a different outlook on difficult moments, I think, and I really feel like we’ll stop and enjoy the little things more than we would have if everything would have been sunshine and rainbows.
In any case, Benjamin is home and healthy and we feel strongly that he will continue to thrive. We are so extremely grateful for the summer ahead of us and that Ben is home safely.
Alex and I are also grateful for the encouragement, well wishes and support from our friends and family near and far. We are so thankful to have our little “Seattle family” support network – it really made the situation more bearable knowing how many people were rooting for Ben. We can’t wait to start {slowly!} introducing him to everyone!
