our hospital stay

After Samantha arrived, we had a few days in the hospital for me to recover and for us to get used to life with our new little lady.  Having both been working full-time right through the day I went into labor, we felt like we were on vacation!  We hung out with our new family addition, took naps, ate yummy meals, learned lots, and spent copious amounts of time just staring at Samantha.  Nine months feels impossibly long when you're pregnant (even when you're enjoying it as I very much did!), but once she was here, it felt like we were JUST finding out she was in there.

Since we hadn't planned on having a baby for another two weeks, we did not have our hospital bags packed.  When Stefan rushed to the hospital Friday evening, in my giddy, can't-wait-to-meet-our-baby state, I told him just to bring me a toothbrush, nothing else.  No hairbrush, contacts, or a change of clothes.  

Needless to say, I rocked some oh-so-glamorous attire throughout the duration of our stay:

But I didn't mind - it was comfy and practical.  

In addition to having a private room, we could order anything we wanted to eat on demand.  Perhaps I was just famished from not having eaten real food for a day and a half or maybe I just had extra low expectations, but I thought the food was top-notch.  Stefan also indulged my coffee addiction by doing multiple Starbucks runs to complement our meals.

Super dad Stefan did all the diaper-changing, rocking, and swaddling for the first two days while I was in recovery mode.  He wanted to keep it up, but I figured I'd better learn before we got home and I needed to change a diaper too.  He's still the quicker changer among us (and has an uncanny ability to keep Samantha calm throughout).

He also made it a habit to accompany Samantha to the nursery every night for her midnight weigh-in and check-up.  

He was always the only parent in the nursery and took the time to ask the nurses all sorts of questions on the best swaddling technique, how quickly Samantha would gain her lost weight back, and what color poop was ideal.  He'd come back with excellent conversation for our breakfast the next morning. :)

Our second to last day, my parents came to visit.  It was so exciting to share Samantha with them for the first time!

On our final night in the hospital, the dining staff served us a special, celebratory dinner in our room.  We had steaks and polenta and tiramisu as Samantha happily slept in her bassinet.

Those first few days with Samantha were so precious and delectable, but they seemed to just evaporate before we could even process the fact that our sweet little baby had arrived.  As we left, Stefan commented that he was already excited to do it all again for #2. 

xoxo

KK