Released - Part 3: Homecoming

My wife says the last couple of nights have been comparatively very good. The boys are sleeping nearly four hours a shot, and feeding them has taken only about an hour each session. We have a fairly efficient assembly line worked out - she changes diapers and hands them off to me for feeding.

After three rounds, we all go back to sleep for another three or four hours.

All three of the boys are home now. Ben was released from the hospital on Thursday, after a momentary scare that he might have to stay a few more days. He had satisfactorily managed his heart rate for almost five days - which is the threshold. And then, at about 3:30 in the morning, he had another episode. We thought that would restart the clock, and he would be in for five more days. But the doctors tell us there is nothing to worry about, and he was cleared for the long ride home.

And so, everyone came home three weeks to the day after we checked my wife into the hospital for 'observation'. As I write this, my wife has taken the girls to their Saturday morning ballet class, and I am home alone with the boys.

Not to worry. All three are sleeping to the sounds of Mozart. And, despite my wife's assurance that the last couple nights have been fairly easy, I am working on my second pot of coffee and thinking about the endorphin boost I'll get if I can convince myself to work out.

Our house got very crowded very quickly. On Thursday morning, everything was in its place, and general harmony prevailed. On Thursday afternoon, there were three car seats in the entry way, three bouncy seats in the kitchen, bottles all over the counter, and a baby swing by the stove. There's a crib with a built-in changing table where the chair used to be in the living room (there's another in my bedroom), and there are miniature diapers all over the place.

Except for the adjustment to all their stuff - and the constant reminders to the girls that the boys' heads really, truly are very soft and should not be poked - the transition is going very well.

This morning, Ben woke up early and demanded to sleep in our bed next to his mom. Jack was next, wiggling and whining until I put him in bed with us. Olivia was next, climbing in between me/Jack and my wife/Ben. Then Madeline, climbing up on me and assuring me she had washed her hands, so it was ok for her to touch the babies. And then Allison, crawling into the foot of the bed. When Luke began to stir, all eight of us were awake together in (or very near) our bed.

All eight of us. In our home. Together.

This is precisely how we envisioned it.