So I was going to write some here last night, highlighting the events of the first day home, but then just as I was about to sit and type, the Internet connection started getting strange. Something at the NOC (Network Operations Center) wasn’t functioning properly, so all HTTP (Web) traffic and some other traffic (E-Mail worked) wasn’t going through, but just hanging in an indefinite wait state.

That was good and frustrating, but c’est la vie.

So anyway, that brings us to today. The same thing (with the Internet connection) was happening when I wanted to write some more this morning, but it’s working well again now. Thankfully.

I went in to the hospital around 9am on Friday morning, and Kirstin had already been checked over by the doctor and was cleared to go any time. Beth was still waiting to see Paige some time in the morning, so we basically killed more time in her room and hung around for a while (watching the Price is Right amongst other things). Paige came by sometime around 10, I gave her the CD of Flogging Molly material that I’d promised her, and she gave Beth the checkup she needed. She was then cleared to go whenever she wanted.

So, we decided to stick around until after lunch had been served. That way we had enough time to get everything packed up and ready to go, Beth would get some lunch, and nobody was in any sort of incredible hurry. We packed up Kirstin & Co., then loaded up the car and made the trek home. The drive home was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that we saw the strangest thing take place just before we got off the highway onto our road — a bald eagle and a hawk were fighting for the same piece of whatever happened to be dead there. It was very cool — they were chasing after each other. Random, but neat.

So, we got home, and things have been going pretty smoothly thus far. She’s still been pretty quiet, Beth is more relaxed in general, and I’m actually able to do things (aside from spend most of the day at the hospital). Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind it, but it gets a little boring after a while — at least this way I can do various things around the house throughout the day.

So we managed to get a few more pictures of her at home, including one with her and George on my lap. Last night we gave her her first bath at home, which went pretty well. Then shortly thereafter it was time to go to bed. She slept pretty well, especially once we got her climate controlled. Managed to sleep for about two hours at a time on average, with only short feeding bouts in between. Hopefully that sort of pattern will remain — that’d be a Good Thing. I know from what Beth’s told me, when she was in the womb she was not very active at all during the night. There is research that supposedly links pre-birth activity (e.g. sleep patterns) with post-birth activity. It’s a sort of jump-started clock.

I haven’t really taken any new pictures today, but I’m sure more will be on the way as the opportunities come available. Beth’s folks are in the neighborhood this weekend, so I’m sure we’ll probably get a few at some time.

Until then…

–MZ