The First Week of Being Four

The Gutt family is now a family of four. Where did we leave off last...ah yes, quick picture upload on Valentine's night. I'm learning that the act of uploading photos and actually updating the blog not only takes hours...it's taken days to get to this point.

After the photos were uploaded, Go Home Gorgeous showed up. Wow!!! I swear, it was an out-of-body experience. I felt amazing during and after the massage. I was in such a state of relaxed zen that when the charge nurse came in and asked if we'd be willing to move rooms, I was happy to do so. That said, I still shed a couple of tears at having to pack up and leave Lily's first home away from home, but that would have happened no matter what. Due to the room renovations, they'd set aside a block of rooms in the patient tower for maternity patients to use as overflow, but they were not suited for labor and delivery, just recovery. The snow falling on Valentine's night must have prompted a lot of babies to come into the world because they were getting pounded. There were women just walking in off the street. So, we were happy to leave our room to allow someone else to experience the magic of meeting their new baby. But, our new digs were not quite as luxe. In fact, they were tiny. We moved in at 11pm and ended up storing our bags and gifts in the shower. Poor Loran couldn't open his couch/bed all the way, or the nurses couldn't get the door to our room open. And those nurses like to come in frequently. Lily also earned her second night in the nursery so we could get some sleep. She only made her appearance to eat and then we shipped her back off. Bad parents, I know...but we needed our beauty sleep.

The amazing, remodeled room in the maternity ward. Spacious. This doesn't even show the nice bathroom with pretty tile, the flat screen television or mini-fridge or the large work area for the medical staff.

Our little room. This pretty much shows everything as taken from the door. Lily's by the window waving.

But lucky for us, both rooms had a magnificent view.

Lily was supposed to stay 48 hours, but we were sprung early around 2pm. The small room was actually good motivation to go home. If I'd still been in the maternity suites, they would have had to wheel me out the door in the bed and dump me out in the parking lot.

Going home outfit!

Ready to see her new home!

Waiting for the carseat check.

Ella came home on Tuesday morning and was sort of happy to see us. She's been pretty leery of the baby. Every time Lily cries, Ella starts wailing, "Oh noooo!!! Ohhh noooo!!" She's attempted to touch the baby a few times and pat it. But that's the closest she'll get. Eventually we'll get that big sister holding the little sister picture, but we're not pressing the issue.

The closest she'll get to Lily.

Lily went to the doctor on Wednesday. She'd checked out of the hospital weighing 6 lbs 14 oz. She weighed 6 lbs 15.5 oz on Wednesday - Got Milk? Yep! She was still pretty yellow, so she had her heel pricked to check for jaundice. Her numbers came back as normal but elevated so we had to return on Friday just to make sure it wasn't getting worse. On Friday, she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and didn't even need the blood draw. She was cleared!

Rawr!

Friday we decided to live a regular Gutt day. I'd been feeling great up until then. Why not try to resume my regular level of craziness. We went to the doctor, to the Conservatory at Como, out to lunch and then to Target. Ummm...this was fraught with small disasters. I leaked milk all over myself at the restaurant and I was quickly reminded that I'd in fact, given birth only five days prior and had the first set of stitches I'd ever had. By the time we got home that afternoon, I was feeling pretty rough and smelled like sour milk. But, I rallied and made cupcakes with Ella - her first baking experience. It was fun to cook with my little girl. Loran also gave Lily her first bath. Much screaming ensued. Ella watched and every once in awhile reached down to show Lily how to splash and swim in the water.

First trip out with the new ride!

We're quite the convoy.

Ella hit a koi fish in the head. Both were equally surprised.

First trip to Target. Now there's no room to actually buy stuff...

First bath!

First baking experience! (for Ella...)

Saturday, we awoke to a baby who only got up once in the night to eat. It was amazing. Unfortunately, I did not feel amazing. But, with some rest and slowing down a bit things felt a bit better. It also helped that Nana, Papa and Nathan came - with lunch! Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and the aforementioned cupcakes as a birthday treat for them. As the night drew to a close, Lillian was just getting revved up. She was quite awake from 10pm to 1am and wanting to nurse almost constantly. When she wasn't nursing, she was crying. Finally, an exhausted Mommy and Daddy were able to put her to bed around 2am and she had to be awakened at 5a to eat and then slept until 10a. I hate to wake her, but she's just too little to go so long without food. We have to plump her up a bit before she can start pulling all-nighters, sleep-wise.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor.

And to think, this girl used to not like sweets...

I can't believe it's been a week already. I still can't believe I did it naturally. And I really can't believe that Lily is such a good baby, like her sister was...so far.