Home away from home...

There was a lot of preperation leading up to the birth, with both mental and physical highs and lows. I'll spare you the gorey details, but take it from me, it was a long journey. We arrived at the hospital on a thursday night, Henry was born saturday afternoon, and then we left the hospital that following tuesday. I managed to take a few snapshots of our surroundings before we left. I felt like a tourist stuck in a hotel, watching parades of nurses coming in and out, with trays of food, needles, and plenty of opinions, especially when it came to breastfeeding. I've never seen Nicole's breasts manhandled by so many different women (Sorry, no pictures). I was a bit like a voyeuristic, anonymous guest, except that I was also crashing there for free (sort of, although paying for it indirectly), on the floor. So I guess for me, it was more like touring in a Rock band again.


I stared at this painting for days during our stay, it's hard not to. It began to haunt me, this image of a baby's butt, passing gas into the water, or were those just frothy waves? The scale of that sailboat in the distance, also made it appear as if this baby were huge. Somehow, this was not a calming image to me. Was it just me?

Henry's first bath at the hospital....

I would camp myself between Nicole and Henry, watching his every move, or I would be huddled in the corner on the bed mat. At either location, whether or not I was sleeping, I would jump at the slightest sound, which is very rare for me, since I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. Directly across from me, below the butt painting, was a chair that was missing a leg, and was tipped slightly to one side, unbalanced. It looked really pathetic and disheveled. I couldn't help empathizing with this chair, I knew exactly how it felt. Right on.


Ah, yes. The dreaded hospital bed. I'm sure Nicole will not miss this. To the right, you can see the machine that made Nicole's life a living hell, it monitored henry's heart rate, and was hooked up to Nicole 24-7. She was also hooked up to an IV cart, which she had to wheel into the bathroom whenever she needed to go. Again, not fun. To the left, on the shelf, was our iPod, which pumped in plenty of Beatles and Indie essentials for Henry to hear, but would sometimes drive Nicole crazy. I admit, I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to repeat listens of the White Album.

On the night we were released from the Hospital, it was raining, and the nurses had just wheeled Nicole out with Henry in her arms (I guess for dramatic effect). For the first time, we were left on our own, with Henry's life in our hands. It was terrifying. I remember trying to figure how to get Henry into his car seat, and thinking that it seemed a little loose, once it clicked in. Not knowing exactly how to tighten it without first consulting the state officer who had installed it for us (which of course now seems silly) and just anxious to get home, I proceeded to make the longest 2.43 mile journey of my life, going about 30 miles per hour, feeling like I was carrying a 16 wheeler full of nitroglycerin. We all arrived home safely, and ended up being the longest night of our lives, without any sleep until that following night. Henry was pretty stressed out by the sudden change in environment, but he soon grew accustomed to his new little world. Welcome home Henry!