I’m going to take this quiet moment to post another update on our little family before what I presume to be a bit of a silence as we settle in to our life of being a family of five.

On Hannah’s birthday (Wednesday), we had the girls come up to meet their sister after their naps. When after their naps turned into post-dinner, Matt and I were anxious to see our two little girls and then usher them on to their slumbers (so we could get ours). While the girls were running on the last fumes of an out of the ordinary day of excitement, they were very curious about Hannah.

The Reactions:

Rachael, when coming into the hospital room, immediately ran to me with a hug and then instantly realized someone was holding a baby. She instinctively went to investigate as “this is Hannah, your sister” was resounded from family in the room. Rachael’s nurturing kicked into full gear naturally and she began snuggling and kissing Hannah’s little head. She stroked the baby’s head, staking her place firmly as her guardian. 😉

Abi when coming into the hospital room immediately ran to Mommy and stayed there hugging me for about five minutes. I missed you too, my little Abi. When Abi realized there was a baby in Goga’s (My Mom’s) lap, Abi was concerned at first, announcing Hannah’s little baby noises to be “baby’s crying”. It took her a moment to really absorb that Hannah was alive and more than just a bundled doll. Of course the prospect of holding a baby delighted our dear, independent toddler who threw herself onto the couch and stuck her arms out as if we planned on just handing her the weightless Hannah. 😉 And her joy? Oh it was contagious.

And then she initiated her own affections for her little sister.

Hannah’s reaction? Well as you can see, she just slept the whole time, clueless of their presence or even being passed around. It was her first solid nap on this side of the womb so the poor baby was knocked out cold.

It was cool to witness the next day during the girls’ visit, the normalcy that seemed to be taking hold as the reality crept in. Rachael and Abi were well rested and full of energy, but in many ways they were back to their old ways with less of the bottled nervous excitement. Without a real schedule and no pressing dinner needs, we were able to visit with more relaxation.  The girls brought their hospital bags (my dear friend, Darlene, mailed them goody bags for entertainment during their hospital trips) and happily colored, ate snacks and shared.

Hannah’s routine check occurred while the girls were there and there was instant fascination. I was so grateful for the nursing staff’s desire to answer kid questions and help build the bridge between Ms. crying Hannah and her concerned sisters. During the check-up I think is one of the firs times Abi really realized Hannah was real. She was very concerned about Hannah’s well-being and it was really the first time Abi took on a “big sister” roll in her concern. My mom and the nurses were fantastic in reassuring Abi that they were not hurting Hannah and helping to normalize the “new to Abi” cries of a newborn.

We also got the opportunity to take Hannah for a walk through the Mother/Baby Unit hallways. Rachael and Abi helped push Hannah along in her rolling crib-cart as we all enjoyed the delights of hallway art, windows outside, a scale (we all needed to be weighed), and peeking into the nursery from the outside glass. We were happy to discover a Daddy in there caring for his newborn girl which brought up all kinds of conversation about babies. It was also the first time I realized that while Hannah is a deceptive 10lb baby (she’s primarily just seriously long, but has a small head and small feet and is well-balanced weight-wise) she is certainly big in comparison to little scrawny newborns. hehe.

After an animal cracker snack, Daddy escorted Rachael and Abi downstairs to the exit and grabbed himself something to eat on the way back up. The departure this time was a little more difficult for the girls since they weren’t quite as keen on us staying at the hospital a second night, but the hope of us all coming home the following day added to Daddy’s escort seemed to help in the equation.

Hannah and I had a quiet few moments alone while Daddy was transitioning with the girls and enjoyed some special snuggle time.

Then came a harder night with latching problems, Hannah discovering her pterodactyl scream (ouch!) and a general discontentment presiding over our once-gentler daughter. While it was a rough night, not going to lie, it was reassuring to discover in the morning that those behaviors are normal for a newborn (especially a breastfed one) on day two and day three due to them trying to figure out the balance of fussiness/feeding in the context of encouraging Mom’s milk to come in. 

This morning (Friday) we “slept in” til almost 9am (I called it napping since I had only gotten about an hour of consistent sleep from 11p – 7a). Hannah’s jaundice count was taken again, for some reason someone chose 6am as a good morning wake-up time. And we found ourselves doing “the lasts” to prepare for our hospital discharge. 

Doctors visited, paperwork was drawn up, and the girls and my mom arrived to bring us home. 

After loading up the car with three children, 1/2 a country’s worth of luggage, and two tired parents, we circled round to pull out of the parking lot when we saw a familiar woman waving down our car. It was my mom. Puzzled we wondered why she wasn’t in her car. She then explained that her car would not start. So since Mom’s car was blocked in on all sides by various other vehicles, we popped up our second stow-away captain’s chair in the van, loaded in more luggage to the car, and added my Mom to our van-load with promises to return to the hospital at less “visiting hours” time to jump her car and bring it back. So it was a funny little spin on our “uneventful” discharge from the hospital. 

Back at home the girls went down for their much-needed naps, Matt and I ate lunch, Hannah was fed/rediapered, Mat started and I transferred laundry, and we proceeded to settle in. After caring for Hannah’s needs, I started to nod off on the couch (something about having slept a total of 7 hours over the past 3 nights) and found my refuge snuggling Ms. Hannah in my own bed. I awoke groggily to a confusing scene of people coming in to visit, later streaming it all together to being various instances of my girls and Matt beckoning me to dinner. Homemade pizza, thanks for the expert cooking of my Mom and the girls’ topping distribution, hit the spot in more ways than one. 

With bedtime around the corner, the girls played, cleaned up (reluctantly) and were ushered back into a variation of their normal routine (extra cuddling was needed for the toddler and extra attention for the preschooler to reassure them without words that they are still “our girls” and are not being replaced). Hannah was gracious to snuggle my mom with minimal vocalizing. 😉

After the girls were tucked into bed, Matt and Mom left to go retrieve Mom’s car and enjoy the fun of night-time grocery shopping. That left Hannah and I and a quiet house. Hannah HIGHLY reluctantly received her first bath at home 

and then found her comfort in the swaddling wrap. 

And then I got to sit down here in the quiet and record the blessings of the first few days of “the five of us” while yawning. =)

So thus far on out there will probably be a little lull of “long” blog posts. You can only do a “new family” the right way once so I’d like to turn my attention from the blog/electronic communications to communicating love, trust, and full attention (or as much as can be given between naps) to this wonderful family in which God has graced us.


Thank you for your love and support and encouragement. 

We are so excited and delight to get the opportunity to settle in to