HOMECOMING: Transitioning into our new reality

Mike and I are lucky enough to have family that lives close enough to stop in and assist as needed. My parents live in Stuart, which is about an hour and half drive south of us and Mike’s mom and grandparents live about 3 and half hours on the west coast of Florida in North Fort Myers.  I’d say lucky for us, but really lucky for the dogs my parents were able to take some time off to be at the house while we went to the hospital for the BIG day and the proceeding days that we were stuck at the hospital.  My parents were able to keep them on their normal routine, 2x daily walks both early morning and late afternoon to include an afternoon of leisure at the park with their closest neighborhood dog pals.

 

The transition home was easier than I imagined, both dogs welcomed Rylee into the “pack” immediately.  Both initially very curious about the new addition and quickly Laika picked up on what was actually going on.  Most likely because she had been through the process of bringing life into the world, only little did she know this one was going to stick around for the long haul.  Kaya’s curiosity stuck around a bit longer and eventually she became inseparable from baby Rylee.  She instantly felt the need to be right at Rylee’s side, especially if I put her down in the nursery and was not in the room with her, Kaya would step in to take over “babysitting” role.  Laika took on the role of protector and would keep all outsiders away from baby Rylee to include pets and humans alike.  If you were going to come see the baby, you had to go through her! 

 

It took us a little while to figure out the new routine with having Rylee at home and it was a huge help having family here that first week.  We also had several friends dropping off meals which was a tremendous help not only to take the burden of making a meal for ourselves but also to ensure we did eat a proper meal.  The days blended into the night which blended into the late, late night so having hot meals ready and prepared for us was a huge lifesaver!  My family was here the 2 days prior to Rylee’s arrival and 5 days after.  It was great having an extra set of hands to help with all the things that needed to get done and to ensure I was keeping this new life alive! Haha.  Mike’s mom arrived the next day and stayed for a few days to also help and meet the newest grandbaby! 

 

I feel grateful that we had as much help as we did for the first 9 days after Rylee arrived!  It was a whirlwind of figuring life out as well as healing as my body was still transitioning back into post pregnant life. I also think those next few days that Mike and I were alone with the dogs and Rylee we were able to establish a routine that worked best for us and then we were able to see what worked, what didn’t and what we actually needed help with.  I say this to give you hope if you aren’t as lucky as we were to have family around to help you transition back home with your new baby.  I think the help was amazing and really helped us get through a challenging time, but I also think that second week we were alone gave us tremendous insight to what worked for us.  We quickly fell into a routine that gave us both confidence that we had this parenting thing down pretty good!  Haha! The quicker you realize no 2 days are the same the better, but for the most part I think we did pretty well for ourselves.  It’s amazing how you get home not knowing anything, to just relying on your natural instincts to getting the job done and done well!  So keep the faith and enjoy the transition back to reality!  It’s a wild ride that only gets more wild!  But it is the best ride ever, that’s for sure!