First Night at Home

What a special night with Ava at home for the first time.

We put her into the Pack 'n' Play next to my side of the bed. I held her little hand for a good portion of the night. When I couldn't get her to stop crying I took her into the nursery so that mommy could sleep.

It's now 6:46AM and I've gotten about 45 minutes of light sleep. Par for the course, I suppose. Star of the evening was the pacifier. I was reluctant early in the evening to use a device to soothe Ava's crying but by 5:00AM the pacifier was a godsend. We fed her at about 11:30PM and 2:15AM. She didn't quite make the three hour planned feeding zone, but she was close. A bit fussy early in the evening, but she's sleeping like a champ... for now. For the last two hours I've given up on sleep and manned the pacifier. She'll pop it out with her hand, sleep for another four or five minutes and then cry a bit. Light crying. And once she gets the pacifier she's good for fifteen or twenty minutes.

I need to do some reading on the goods and bads of pacifiers. I honestly have no idea whether they're a good idea at night or not. Yet another area to learn.

I had a keen awareness of every sound she made all night. Even a little hiccup had me rolling over to check on her, listen to her breathing, etc. She's so special and I don't yet have any sense of her durability. She seems fragile to me so I'm treating her as such, even though I know academically that she's rather robust and that millions of years of evolution have given her the tools she needs to surive the night in a cave alone.

Welcome home Ava!