Homecoming Day

The last day in the hospital was quite an eventful one. The staff likes to call it "discharge" day, but since we have been and will be dealing with various discharges, I prefer to call it homegoing day. We were awoken early by o
ur pediatrician who wanted to make sure that everything was progressing smoothly.

Katie, the nurse that we liked so much from our first day, was working in the family side on our last day, so we were able to follow up with her again. Then the ladies from the hospital photo center came in to offer (sell) us a complimentary ("please buy more from us") shoot. We thought we might as well get Banner all dolled up for the first time as she had basically been wearing a diaper and her hospital straight jacket, other wise known as a swaddle. She was not a huge fan of the hullabaloo, but she did well.

Shortly after in our room, the hearing check people came in for their test. Moments before this lady had seen Kristen in the hall and asked "Are you pregnant?!" to which Kristen replied, "No, I actually just had a baby." When she came in to the room just before Kristen returned she mentioned how confused she was that I (Jared) was holding the baby and laying in bed because surely I could not have had a baby... She asked Banner's name and promptly replied, "Oh, my kids have weird names too...I mean...not weird, eclectic." Anyway, Banner passed the hearing test.

I think the hospital was aiming at getting us out by noon, but we had to wait for our midwife to come by with her official blessing. After packing everything up, we ended up just relaxing in our room for a couple of hours while we waited without everyone popping in every second. I loaded up the car and installed the car seat (which I remembered to at least put in the trunk) before Katie made sure that Banner was all snug. We had been keeping her swaddled most of the time so we had to make sure she was wearing something with mobility.
Laura agreed to meet us at home to take some pictures of our arrival. She even made this lovely "Welcome Home Banner" banner. After a quick change we all tried to take an afternoon nap before Genny was kind enough to bring us a scrumptious chicken, bell pepper, rice and peas dish. She was able to play with Banner while we ate and watched before several other more diaper changes and then bed.