Our week began on Monday by wrapping up our hospital stay and heading home! The day began when the audiologist came in and woke me up around 6:30 am to tell me that Reid still hadn’t passed the hearing exam in his right ear. Being awoken with such news was not a good way to start the day. She continued on about a referral and follow up exam and so on. Needless to say I was scared and upset and only retained about half of what she said. A couple hours later our pediatrician made his rounds. I mentioned it to him and he reviewed his thoughts and how the process works for the more detailed screening. He also looked at Reid’s ears and said they both look good and the same (no anomalies). We will learn more about the follow up at his first check up at the pediatrician’s office.

Mom came to the hospital with Griffin and we all enjoyed a hospital catered lunch prior to heading home. After lunch we put Reid in his first real outfit and headed out. I hadn’t thought about it much while there, but after the fact thought about how that would be our last stay in the maternity ward. We really enjoyed all of the visitors, staff, and meals we had while we were there. It was a great experience.  We were welcomed home by a lovely sign on our door from the garage to the house, made by Finn and Grandma 🙂  Lily and Brutus greeted us with all kinds of energy and barks and kisses. Lily has been through the ropes before. Brutus on the other hand is trying to figure out if Reid is just a large squeaky toy or what! Tuesday was Griffin’s last day of preschool in the Tiger class. Our morning started with Grandma snuggles in the red chair. Kevin packed Finn’s lunch and was able to take him to school and my mom and I headed in to pick him up. My recovery is going super great. I feel really awesome, so much better than after I had Griffin, and I’m thankful for that as we’ve had a rather packed week. while Finn was at school, Amy, Rowan, and Greta came over and brought a delicious lunch. They stayed to visit for awhile and got some cuddles with our little man. Then we headed out to pick Finn up at school and afterward we celebrated the last day with a stop at Graeter’s on our way home. When we arrived home we were greeted by a nice flower and balloon arrangement from Kevin’s work team.  On Wednesday we headed back to preschool for cousin Rowan’s graduation from the Monkey class! He is on to kindergarten next year! After cake we enjoyed a tasty lunch at First Watch, Reid’s first restaurant experience. Later on Wednesday afternoon we had Reid’s first checkup at Powell Pediatric Care with Dr. Wilde. Grandma Beilstein and Griffin came along too. Our boy is doing awesome! He is gaining weight at a good pace as he is up to 8 pounds, 1 ounce (his discharge weight was 7 pounds, 13 ounces two days prior).  Reid regularly hangs on to my shirt with either of his hands. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but he does it all the time!Mom stayed until Wednesday around dinner time when Dad stopped through town to pick her up and head on home. We are grateful for her help while she was here – preparing meals, doing laundry, diaper changes, holding Reid so I could do all kinds of things. It was great!

This is what the time throughout many of our days looked like this week.  Sleeping. Lots of sleeping (though at very short intervals for some). And snuggling.  Thursday when I awoke I was greeting by my swollen ankles having mostly disappeared.  What a sight and feeling. My ankles had been swelling alot in recent weeks, but regularly since February! How nice it is to wear shoes without having swollen feet. 🙂  Our first family outing was to head to Target to get a few baby things. It was a good trip, but ended rather quickly as Reid woke up hungry and started screaming!  On Friday we were treated to a tasty lunch from Barry Bagels courtesy of the Vertucci’s. They were able to stay and hang for a bit too. They were without their kids and Finn was at the zoo so it was a peaceful lunch! We then enjoyed a nice dinner from City Barbecue from the Conrad’s. Kara and the girls were able to visit and hold Reid too. On Sunday we headed to church and later that afternoon to Cameron Howard’s graduation party. We had countless people ask how old Reid was and they couldn’t believe it when we told them he was a mere 8 days. He slept almost the entire time, other than two feedings.