I have a to-do list, and it never ends…and these days, I move through it very slowly. That’s my way of saying, I would have liked to write the second part of Josephine’s birth story sooner. But here I am, and here we go!
I mentioned before that I fell madly in love with Josephine the second I saw her. Oh, that is so true. And this time, I had the added benefit of having parented a newborn before – which meant that I was a lot less worried, and everything seemed a lot less difficult. So basically, for the next couple of days in the hospital I just held her and stared at her, in absolute heaven. As the fathers aren’t allowed to spend the night in the hospital rooms in NY, it was just me and Josephine at night and in the morning. So nights were pretty lonely, but mornings – my favorite time of day – were heavenly. Because I’d just talk to her, nurse her, and get to know her in the quiet of our room, which overlooked the East River.
Anyway…going back a bit. After Chris and I were shown to our room – which we shared with a women for a few hours, until she checked out and we moved to the window side of the room, and then had it all to ourselves for the rest of our stay – sweet, patient Catherine arrived to meet her baby sister. Catherine had been waiting in the waiting room since about 4:00am – because my sister Mary gets excited about things like babies and didn’t want to wait at home – enjoying the snacks and toys Mary, Mom, and I had given her to keep her busy. But she and Mary and my mom were very anxious to see us, since we had the baby at 4:44am but didn’t get shown our room until around 7am I believe. Anyway, boring details to most people reading this but I want to have it all recorded for later.
So Mary and my mom thoughtfully wait outside the door while Catherine marches in with her little backpack to see her sister for the first time. She climbed up on the bed with us and was immediately a wonderful, loving big sister. She snuggled and kissed and loved on and cooed over Josephine. She covered Josephine’s hospital swaddle with her very best pony stickers. I still have that swaddle with the stickers on it tucked in a drawer. 🙂 I’ll show it to Josephine some day. The sister bond started the day she was born and I wish them a lifetime of friendship with each other.
The sisterly snuggling lasted in actuality only a few seconds before Catherine rushed to the door wondering what was taking the others so long – “Come see my baby sis-tah!” she said excitedly.
So everyone got to meet and enjoy Josephine, though if I remember correctly in my sleepy haze, I was a bit hoggish with her and was enjoying holding her so much I didn’t think to ask others if they’d like to hold her as much as I would have. (The following pictures aren’t all taken in the hospital, obviously. Some were taken in our apartment during the first few days home.)
My dad came in to town that night, and they all spent the next day or two while I was in the hospital playing in the city with Catherine, rather than sitting in the hard hospital chairs, which is what I preferred, for their sake and definitely for Catherine’s sake and come to think of it, for mine and Chris’s, since we got some alone time with our new daughter and each other.
Even though it was sad that Chris had to leave at night, it was nice that he stayed very late – until around midnight. And it was during that time that we decided upon her name. Which I think will be a new post.
Why I Consume Art 