Long Night, Good Day

Last night was a verrrrry long night. Leah woke up at 1:30, and no matter what we did, she would not quit fussing. By 5:00, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Around 4:00, I gave up and came downstairs so I wouldn't wake up Tom or Michael, and when I went back upstairs around 5:30 when it seemed she was settling down, Michael had gotten nervous about what was going on and got up to try and reason with me about going downstairs and him not knowing what was happening, the gist of which seemed to be "She's so small, I got worried." For some reason, this struck me as absolutely hilarious (fatigue?), and I was laughing until I cried, and then I started crying for real. I was just so tired. Leah finally settled down around 6:00 and I got two hours of sleep.

We had to leave the house by 9:00 to get to her doctor's appointment in town today. I swore this would be the last time I was going into Baltimore, but if we don't get a court date soon, it looks like we will be going up there again for her next doctor's appointment next week.

We drove all over the stupid parking garage and every last spot was taken until we hit level 6 and then every spot was 'reserved for physicians' with the added bonus of 'compact cars only'. It was 10:00, which was appointment time, and I was like, "Screw it!" and parked our boat in a compact car/physicians only spot, granting myself a temporary M.D.

The people at the clinic could not have been nicer. We didn't know about her insurance status, because we can't add her to our insurance yet, but they had it well in hand. One phone call to B. to get her SSN and it was all done. The ladies were madly in love with Leah, and in fact, one lady thanked us for reminding her why she did her job! Wow, I was moved, so moved! It made the previous evening's activities fade.

The doctor was so nice. He was a good Polish doctor, and so when he told us that she needs to eat more, I said, "Well, she's being adopted into a good Polish family, she'll soon learn how to eat!" he laughed and asked us not to give her kielbasa and pierogi for at least 6 more months. Ha!

Leah is very, very healthy, she is off to a great start. She is still at 7 lbs. 7.8 oz, which is down from her birth weight, which he said was a bit normal, but after the first week, she should be back to her starting fighting weight, so he asked us to feed her a lot more. He asked if the hospital had told us to stick to a schedule, which we confirmed, and he stated that was a load of hogwash and we should feed her whenever she wants food. He said we adults eat for the wrong reasons (no kidding!) but babies only eat for the right reasons and if she's hungry, we should feed her.

We drove home and my dad was waiting to take us out to lunch. After we got back to the house, he told me I should get some sleep, so he sent me up to bed, which was very much appreciated. I got about 3 1/2 hours sleep this afternoon, which is great . It was my first nap since bringing her home--yesterday was supposed to be my nap day, but by the time we got done running around trying to get all the medical records in order (done!) and stopped in to see B. so Leah could meet her big sister, it was 5pm, time for Leah to meet Tom for the first time and then time for dinner. We've had company pretty much non-stop with the holiday, so there hasn't been a lot of time to catch up on rest. So it felt good that even though today was my one day to spend with my dad, he knew I needed some sleep and told me to get it. I will spend time with him this summer.

I captured a picture of Leah's beautiful smile this afternoon and when I'm back on our computer, I will post it. (I'm trying out Tom's iMac)

We still do not have any word on a court date. The courts are pretty busy, so we can't say that we're going to have one soon, although perhaps in the next 2-3 weeks. However, our application for the interstate compact went in yesterday, and should be improved within a week, in which case, we'll be legally allowed to travel home without going to court first. Keep your fingers crossed! As much as we've enjoyed the closeness of friends, are we ever ready to go home and get Leah to surroundings that will give us all the luxuries of home--including changing table, real crib, television (for mom!), and a freezer full of food :-)

Also, B. has given us permission to post pictures or talk about her on our blog. We have made the decision to wait until after the court case is done and it's all over in terms of revocation, etc. but stay tuned for a glimpse of this exceptional young woman.