Mama Monday: Introducing a new sibling.

I'm buddy-posting here for Erin's Mama Monday! I figure since we just brought Fisher home three and a half months ago, this is still fresh in my mind.

1. When we decided to have a repeat cesarean that morning, it gave us a little bit of time to prepare Alla, instead of being randomly thrust into labor as we'd originally planned. We told her that evening Pondegore would be here and she would get to hold him (or her!)! Luckily my mom and stepdad were already here helping out with Alla so we had the childcare portion all lined up.

2. Alla got to peek on Fisher in the nursery as they were washing him up and I was getting stitched up. But then (hospital policy) I had to spend an hour in my room being watched and taken care of before I could have visitors. So the grandparents took her out to dinner.

3. When she came back she wanted to hold him immediately and was so so in awe of him. Having a cesarean means you aren't necessarily up to holding the wee one right from the get-go and all the time in the hospital so I just wasn't holding him when she came in. I think I made a point not to be holding him any of the times she visited. Fisher was born at 5:46pm so really by the time she came back from dinner and got to my room her time there was pretty short as it was getting late. She headed back home with Nana + Pappi for the night.

4. She came back the next morning first thing and spent the whole morning with us. The leaving part was actually the hardest. I really wanted to be able to go with her, and I could tell it was hard for her to understand why she had to be away from us. She also came back that afternoon after nap for a short visit before dinnertime. Again, extremely hard for her to leave and for us to see her go.

5. The next morning she came back again and we could tell she was getting a little, well, difficult, so we made the decision to have Ron go home with her and her grandfather and my mom stayed with me. This turned out to be a great plan because she got to spend some quality time with Daddy (including Pizza Friday!), and I got to spend some time with my mom (ok, she got to spend some time with her new grandson). That day was good for Alla, also hard for me because I didn't see her the rest of the day.

6. That was also the day that the kids 'exchanged' gifts. Alla had gotten a going-home outfit for Fish to wear the next day. Fisher had gotten her a cool blue BIG SISTER tee shirt, and a new doll of her own to take care of, whose name she had already picked out (on the off-chance that she would get a new doll soon): Lauren.

7. The next day was Saturday. Fisher was 3 days old, and we were going home by noon so we didn't have Alla come to the hospital. We just packed up our stuff and reveled in one last morning of just one kid (ha!), and mentally prepared ourselves for our new life as parents of two!

8. The first afternoon home was the roughest. It was truly Alla testing the waters, not really sure about this new person in the house, and a mama who couldn't pick her up or walk up the stairs but once a day. It was hard and I'll admit I wanted to go back to the hospital. But since then the hard parts have nothing to do with their relationship. She and I race to his bedside when he wakes up from nap cause we have missed him and want to be the first to see his little smile. He looks at her with genuine love in his eyes. And they share a room! So they comforted by one another's sounds and cries and smells and just being there.

Their first meeting...