Darryl went home for a bit in the morning to see to the cats, and William went up to the nursery to be circumcised, to get his PKU test and his Hepatitis B shot, to get checked for jaundice, to have his hearing tested, and maybe some other things I don’t know about or remember. I do remember that he seemed to be in the nursery FOREVER and I was starting to get worried because he hadn’t really been eating very much (i.e., very often) and he was gone already for 5 hours. I kept asking the nurses to tell me when he’d be able to be returned to my room, etc. but although they said they’d check, they didn’t get back to me. After what seemed to be an eternity, he was finally brought back to me and I was so indescribably happy!

A nurse came in and asked me if I had any questions about how to care for my baby once he was at home (it is hard to know what questions to ask when you’ve had no experience caring for a baby!). She went over (VERY briefly) some common care tips. Loretta, the nursing consultant with whom we’d taking the nursing intro class, came in and checked up on how William was nursing. His technique was very good, she said, and she advised that we try to keep him awake or actively wake him up so he could feed regularly. She again mentioned that we would be able to make sure he was eating enough by how many dirty diapers he had per day.

Darryl came back, and finally it was time to take William home!!! That was a bit daunting to think of and a bit scary since it is such a huge responsibility! Yet another nurse came in to get a bunch of paperwork filled out and ask some last-minute questions. She also took William to get his “Storkbytes” photo taken for the EAMC website. What a cute photo! William is even smiling in it (today was the first day William smiled, though they were only reflexive type smiles)! We put William in his car seat (how tiny he looks in it!) and drove home.

Some of the cats sniffed William upon his arrival home, but for the most part they ignored him entirely. I think they were more intent upon getting fed. Strangely enough, though I had felt hesitant about my abilities as a mother, once William was at home with us, I wasn’t really worried about being able to care for him. What did worry me, though, was whether he was going to eat enough! His weight on leaving the hospital was down to 6 lbs, 1 oz.