Mama I'm Coming Home

Home sweet home.  For real this time.

We are a family now.  All five of us are residing on the west side.  We all have one thing in common: major adjustment.

For starters, Jackson seems to be adjusting well to his new environment.  I can't imagine how he must feel experiencing life as a cordless baby for the first time, spending 24 hours with mommy and daddy, a ride in the car, a new house with multiple rooms, and two dog brothers all in one day.  I read several blogs and articles online about how preemies adjust to going home and it can go either way.  Some really come to life and thrive, and some have a tough time with all the new stimuli.  Even though I made a conscious effort to greatly reduce the stimuli in Jackson's NICU room this past week so we could focus on feeding and growing, I think he is doing quite well with all the new experiences.

Colin and I have had the advantage of getting to know Jackson and learning how to take care of him from trained professionals for the past 33 days.  Despite that, we are still in a period of major adjustment having him full-time and in our home.  There is a lot of organization and carefully planned logistics that we are working on to ensure that we are not overstimulating Jackson and at the same time conserving our energy so we can persevere through his nighttime feedings.  We did a decent job preparing the house considering we have not spent much time at home in the past month (plus we had a tremendous amount of help from family) so our house is pretty baby-friendly.  Still, we have to really think through everything we are doing so we can keep Jackson on a care and eating schedule so he will continue to thrive and grow.

Finally, Dakota and Sam are trying to figure out what the heck is going on.  They seemed to know who Jackson was when Colin brought them in one at a time so there was no major excitement to freak Jackson out.  I credit the fact that we brought Jackson's bassinet blankets home a few times recently and let the dogs get a good sniff.  The boys are really calm, but they seem to be trying to figure out what their role is with the new member of the pack.  I am relieved that they seem to think their job is to guard Jackson.  Perhaps the most profound evidence of this is the fact Sam would not leave Jackson's side as he sat in the magic vibrating chair while I pumped milk in the nursery.  Now if we can prevent Sam from marking everything belonging to the baby (his typical declaration of territory) we can consider this transition a victory.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been reading my blog and following us on Facebook.  I plan to continue documenting my experiences as a first time mommy so feel free to continue this journey with me.  We continue to feel so blessed and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support our family and friends have offered us and we appreciate it more than anything in the world.  We hope to get through this period of adjustment as quickly as Jackson can handle so we can join the world again and be completely "normal".  For now, just being home is enough.

"Don't worry Jackson, I got your back."