Meggie's first week

Wednesday was spent with Thomas' family. They arrived around 1pm; Thomas brother took the baby and didn't give her back until he left at about 7:30. My best friend called that evening, asking how things were going after the birth. When I told her everything was great, and we were still at the hospital she said "What?!? Why are they still keeping you there if nothing is wrong?!"

"No, no." I gently corrected "I WANT to stay here. They cook food for me, they give me a massage in the morning, everyone keeps asking what they can get for me, and the lovely nurses take my baby away when she needs changing, or when I want to sleep. Whyyyy would I want to leave??"

But leave we did, at noon on Thursday. It was quite the parade - Thomas in front with the baby in her car seat, followed by his mom, my sister, HIS sister, my mom, his dad, and me bringing up the rear. I was not wheeled out in a wheelchair. Everyone piled the stuff they were carrying in one of the three cars, and we left my safe haven.

Thursday is very foggy for me. I was in a lot of pain, controlled only by Motrin. (Motrin is marvelous stuff by the way, especially if one has not been taking anything but Tylenol for the past 9 months.) Nursing continued to be a challenge. Meggy learned how to latch on very well, but as soon as she did, she'd fall asleep! It took both mom and myself tickling her feet, poking her belly, keeping her cool, and basically trying to keep her miserable so she'd stay awake and eat!

Thomas and his family went grocery shopping, which was such a good thing, as I didn't have a lick of food in the house. I was supposed to have gotten that done on Tuesday. Since I had been on a low-carb diet for the last 2 1/2 months of my pregnancy, I told Thomas all I wanted was a croissant with Nutella on it. When I went into the kitchen after everything had been put away from the grocery trip, I found a carb-lover's heaven! Hawaiian bread, oatmeal bread, croissants, potato chips, Oreos, and plans for pasta with garlic bread for dinner. (I also found lots of fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge, just in case anyone was worried about that.)

On Friday, Thomas and his family headed over to the new house, where our movers were putting all our stuff in. We still couldn't live there, but we managed to get the seller to let us move our stuff in. They were there most of the day, unpacking, and getting my kitchen set up. I am soooo excited about my kitchen!

Margaret spent her Friday sleeping. She finally had a really good meal, without felling asleep, and we were able to keep her awake for more than 10 minutes! Her Beema went shopping and came home with some really cute preemie outfits. She's so teeny that most of the 'newborn' outfits were too big; we discovered early on that she does not like her hands disappearing into her clothes. A very sweet sister from our church had come over on Thursday and lent us her bassinet and some baby clothes (since all our stuff was in storage, and we only have a crib) but nothing we found would fit our wee little mouse! Beema is awesome however, and we managed to get some cute pictures of her in the little outfits.

Mom and Rachel stayed until Sunday. They were so much help - doing laundry, holding the baby, changing her diaper, and staying up with her so Thomas and I could get some sleep! Mom even came down in the middle of the night when Meggy was getting really fussy. I was very sad to see them go.

Monday was our first day "alone". Thomas went off to work, and I watched the baby sleep. That was pretty much it, sleeping, eating (both things she did; I kind of forgot to do them for myself) and we watched Finding Nemo. I'm determined to introduce this child to the classics early on.

Tuesday was our first outing!! At Margaret's well-baby visit on Saturday, the doctor had found a slight murmur in her heart. He wasn't too worried about it, but wanted to get it checked out as soon as possible. So Tuesday morning we headed back to he hospital! Again, I had such a wonderful experience there... Although it might have helped that we went to the cardiac department, which is right across the hall from where Thomas works. From the check-in lady to the peds cardiac tech, they all knew Thomas, and were more than delighted to take care of his new little girl!

Thankfully the doctor confirmed that Meggy's murmur isn't serious, and it should go away in the next few years. She had an echo ultrasound done, and as I was watching her little heart beat so fast on the screen, it struck me that just a week and a half ago, I had been watching that same little heart on an ultrasound screen... Only she had been inside me at the time. It was a very surreal experience, and I'm not sure if it was hormones or what, but I started getting teary-eyed, looking at her, all wrapped up in blankets as they performed the echo test.

After the echo, we headed over to Thomas' department, where his boss was throwing us a little baby shower! It was so sweet, all of Thomas' coworkers were there, and I made him open the presents, since I had already had a shower. He ooo'd and awww'd, and loved anything pink that came out of a gift. Halfway through the presents, his boss turned to me and said "this is why we like working with him-sometimes he acts like such a girl!"

I'm not sure about that, but Thomas is having such a fun time with our little girl! When he's home, he's appointed himself in charge of the diaper changing, and he's enjoyed singing to Meggy, and showing her the birds outside. He's forever coming up with weird nicknames for her, smothering her with kisses, and really enjoying being a daddy.

I'm very much enjoying being a mommy. Especially now that my body is recovering, and I'm feeling like myself again. I can definitely tell the difference between pregnant Sarah, and Sarah now, and I'm happy to be returning to my normal self. I love spending time just watching Margaret as she sleeps. I kick away that nagging feeling that I should be doing laundry or the dishes - she's only going to be 8 days old once in her life, and I'm determined to miss as little of it as possible.

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