Hospital Stay & Going Home.

I can't believe our little Charlie Dean turned one week old yesterday! It's honestly breaking my heart! I'm trying to be brave because I know he's just going to keep getting bigger, but oh man, I really wish time would SLOW down even just a little bit. This past week has been pure heaven!!! Landon and I just can't believe how lucky we are to be Charlie's parents. We cry so much because we are just SO happy. We both talk about how much our love for each other has grown too, not to mention how much love we have for Charlie. Just so much love! It's the absolute best.

After Charlie's first day in the hospital he continued to have antibiotic treatments through his IV every morning and every night for about 2 hours. It was so hard to be away from him! I mentioned in my last post that Landon decided to work the week we were in the hospital and take the next week off, since he would be able to spend more time with him at home. So every morning before work Landon came to see Charlie and then he came on his lunch and then right after work. That was definitely the highlight of my day every day when we were all together. Every time Landon would come, he missed Charlie so much that he couldn't hold back tears when he finally got to hold him and be with him again. It melts me watching Landon be a daddy! He's the sweetest and loves Charlie SO much.

Suzette brought in Landon's baby book and it was soooo fun to look through it and see the resemblance between Charlie and his daddy. He totally has Landon's beautiful skin tone (everyone thought he was jaundice, but nope, he just has beautiful olive skin!) and just looks SO much like his daddy. When I first found out we were having a boy one of the first things out of my mouth was, "a mini LANDON!" :) 

We continued to have a lot of visitors at the hospital, which was SO fun. I loved seeing everyone loving on my little boy!

Even the nurses were in love with Charlie. One of my nurses told me, "I see a lot of babies, and I'm not just saying this.... but Charlie is a CUTE baby! We all love him! He's so sweet!" One of our nurses asked what his name was and she was unwrapping him to take his vitals. I told her his name is Charlie and she said, "Charlie!" and then unwrapped him to see his face and said, "Charlie CHEEKS!" It was so funny and now one of his little nicknames. His cheeks really are to DIE for. :)

by the way, he's so smart! Look at him holding his binky in!

Charlie's numbers at the hospital were conflicting, so we weren't exactly sure when we would be able to go home. His white blood cell count was high but went down, but his inflammatory count stayed high, so they continued his antibiotic treatments. Every morning his pediatrician at the hospital, Dr. Schlichter, came in to give me a little run down of his progress and told me that he hoped we could both go home Friday, depending on how his numbers looked. I was SO happy because we were originally told we would probably be there for a week.

I was actually surprised how natural everything came to me. I have always been pretty nervous around newborns, but I wasn't nervous around Charlie. He hardly cries, but sometimes he would get REALLY frustrated when I fed him before my milk came in. His whole body would turn red and he would cry and it almost sounded like he was saying, "uh uh! uh uh! uh uh!" So when he started screaming, I would just stop and do skin to skin and he would calm instantly. It's my favorite thing and seriously so sweet.

On our second night in the hospital, we got to have dinner together as a family. Alta View does this cute thing where they provide dinner for the new moms and dads with a little table cloth. It was like our first "date night" with Charlie. He was wide awake and just starting at us the whole time. It was so cute. They even had sparkling apple juice so we did a cheers to Charlie. :)

Finally Friday morning came and we were given the good news that he passed all of his tests and that we could go HOME! Best news ever. Landon came in the morning again, and then headed into work for a bit while his mom, my mom, and I finished packing up my room and getting ready to leave. Oh, I also had to get my staples out... gross! Landon came back once we were ready around noon and we were SO happy to go home! I thought I would feel more nervous, but I was just so ready.

He was so happy, just so sick of taking pictures ha!

We were nervous on the ride home and I stayed in the back with Charlie. He was a champ (another nickname I have for him) and did a great job! Charlie's Nana and Nini (our moms) came back to our house to be there for Charlie's big welcome home. When we got home, the boys were too excited to see me to notice the baby at first... but once they noticed him it was SO cute. They were very curious and just wanted to sniff him.

We took Charlie upstairs to show him his room and put him in his crib and the boys went NUTS. It was SO funny. They love him!

We spent the rest of the day resting, cuddling, and loving on our Charlie. For dinner, my parents wanted to bring us Olive Garden but my mom was feeling so sick. I felt terrible! But they still got dinner for us and Mary and Joey brought it over--thanks mom and dad! Jolene was SO excited to meet her cousin Charlie and baby Kate suddenly seemed like a giant compared to Charlie.

Later that night, we decided to go on a short walk. I felt so bad because we had used the stroller a few times to take the boys on a walk so I knew they would be disappointed that they didn't get to come... well, they found a little gap underneath the carseat and Henry hopped right up! It was sooo funny! So Henry and Oliver came on our first walk too! :)

Charlie's first night at home went so well! I actually had to set an alarm to wake him up to eat! He's seriously the sweetest baby! I also don't know what I would do without the Owlet! We slept so soundly knowing that he was safe and that if anything went wrong we would be alarmed. I don't know how we could've slept without it.

It's so amazing to have Charlie HOME and I can't wait to share more pictures and stories from our blissful first week. :)