One of the things I worried most about before having Mabel, and particularly after my positive group B strep result, was the time we would spend in the hospital. I remembered not getting any rest after I’d had Abigail because someone was constantly coming in and messing with me. Giving pills, drawing blood, taking vitals, testing the baby, checking on the baby, doling out relaxing uterine massages(ha ha), delivering food, cleaning your room, changing your trash…..seriously. It’s like someone every hour. ANYWAY. While those things still happened, it was a much more relaxing and enjoyable experience than I had prepared myself for.
Maybe it had something to do with low expectations?
I don’t know, but either way, we actually ended up having a very lovely time in the hospital. The staff was great, we were actually left alone majority of the time, and I got to spend lots and lots of time just holding my baby. Which is all I really wanted.
So here are some pictures from our time at the hospital and the wonderful people who came to see us while we were there!
Let us not forget that Mabel’s first night on earth coincided with a tornado warning and sirens. We had to be evacuated out of our room and moved down the hall to a safer interior room. This hospital just opened in March after being completely destroyed in the 2011 Joplin Tornado so they don’t play when it comes to sirens. After a half an hour or so, we were able to go back to our room.
We had this awesome chair that had a broken spring in it so it was super loud when you sat down and got up and tried to rock :p Jim was just about ready to settle in for night one. Neither of us wanted to put her down….and I’m pretty sure we haven’t since 🙂
My poor parents! The original plan was for them to arrive on Saturday, May 23rd. But then I went into labor on the 16th. They immediately ran around their house in Phoenix packing up and raced to the airport. They got on a direct flight from Phoenix to Tulsa that was supposed to arrive at 10:05pm. But then their flight left 40 minutes late…which put them directly in line with the tornadoes that we were dealing with, so they were redirected to land in Oklahoma City….and then they didn’t have enough gas to get to Tulsa…so they had to refuel….and then they had let everyone off the plane to use the bathroom so they had to corral all the passengers back on…. They finally arrived in Tulsa around 1am, still had to get a rental car and drive to our house. They pulled in the driveway around 3:30 am and were at the hospital with breakfast in hand by 8 am. Talk about a whirlwind!
But totally worth it of course. A happier Grammy and Pappy you can not find.
Later that afternoon my best friend Lauren arrived! She stayed until late that evening AND she ventured out and got me some delicious dinner. For some random reason(residual first trimester craving?) I really really wanted a coke to drink and all the hospital had was Pepsi(NOT the same) so she hooked a sister up.
Shortly before dinner, Jim’s parents, grandparents, and Abigail made it over to visit.
Abigail wanted to snuggle with me in my super comfy bed and it was really sweet.
Jim and his grandparents. All of the great grand babies call them Nana and Papa.
During their visit Abigail put on a fabulous puppet show from behind my privacy curtain. Haha! She made up one story and she recited “I’ll Love You Forever” along with my mom as she read.
The next day(Monday) was discharge day, but not until that night. We didn’t have any visitors at all that day(just one right before we left!) so Jim and I had a super lazy day in our room just napping and snuggling and watching tv/social media. It was actually pretty nice!
Welcome to the real world, sweetheart. Where they spell your name wrong on your very first day of life.
I tried to capture some images while we were in the hospital to help me remember just what Miss Mabel looked like when she was first born! Our good friend and photographer had planned to come to the hospital to take some pictures for us, but a nearly two week early arrival made that impossible. So I had to do my best- luckily I had a pretty sweet subject that photographs easily 🙂
We came home on Monday night around 7pm….but I have another post about that coming later!
It sounds like you had a great experience! I laughed when you said they spelled her name wrong, because the same thing happened to us when Reese was born 🙂 She is so sweet and precious, and I love the puppet show Abigail put on 🙂
Your parents had quite the journey to get there. Talk about dedication! I didn't put two and two together until seeing it written on her hospital bassinet, but her birthday is the same as Brooke and Harrison's. May 16th is a great day for a birthday!
How sweet of your parents to rush to get there! Mine would do the same thing! Your parents don't look old enough to be grandparents, by the way! I love the blanket and little hat on Miss Mabel. So sweet!
A perfect model indeed, Mabel is so darling! Second hospital stay was wayyyy better- I wonder if they only harass and bother first time moms?! Kidding (sorta) Nothing beats coming into the world with a tornado welcoming 🙂
Oh, Mable…I can't believe they spelled her name wrong! Geez! I am so glad your stay was better than expected…it does feel like there's constantly someone in your room. With Cam, I had to ask the nurses to come check on us both at the same time, because someone came in our room every 30 minutes, literally, to check one of us. It was a bit insane. PS What proud grandparents – and so many of them!!! They are all adorable! I am so glad your parents were finally able to get to you….it must have seemed like an episode of the Amazing Race! Ah!!
Congratulations!! She's beautiful and I'm glad to hear your family arrived ASAP. Be safe with all those tornadoes and snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. How's Abigail doing? I'm sure she's LOVING having family in town 🙂
So glad your hospital stay went well! And your poor parents. What a whirlwind from getting the call that Mabel was coming to packing to getting on the plane and finally to you. But I'd say it was all worth it to see that sweet baby's face! They don't look mad 🙂 And speaking of, poor Mabel. Already getting her name spelled wrong. I can't wait to see what happens when she's old enough for a Starbucks! Seems like those people can't spell anyone's name right (they spelled Seth's name like Z-E-T-H once! LOL)
Why do I always cry reading your posts! Those are the sweetest pics. I saw the one of your mom and said oh she dyed her hair lighter. Whoops. And the one of J's parents and you- sweet. You have (what seems from here) an amazingly kind family.
haha your poor parents! That is a hurry up and wait and get no sleep kind of evening. Poor Mable…almost. Aria gets a-ray-a all.the.time. I mean I had no idea people couldn't say Aria, it is not even low on the popular list. I think it is top 50 in the recent social security name lists.
I love that you had so many families members that could come visit. After 26 hours of labor, all mine had to go back to work or school; thanks for being totally stubborn, Connor! And while you didn't get the professional shots you wanted, you still got some great first day photos of Mabel and those will be worth more than gold when she is older.
So glad you guys had such a wonderful experience!!!! Your mom looks so much like you, just beautiful! 🙂
And can't believe her name was spelled wrong – a funny story on her first day of life?!!!!
I'm glad it was a better experience than the first time around! and Mabel looks extra cute and lovely in that picture of your dad and her.
So wonderful you had a great stay, even with the tornado warnings, eeek!
Your parents are rockstars! I can only imagine how much they wanted to be there earlier, but glad they were able to get there as quick as they did.
It sounds like you had a great experience! I laughed when you said they spelled her name wrong, because the same thing happened to us when Reese was born 🙂 She is so sweet and precious, and I love the puppet show Abigail put on 🙂
Oh be still, my heart. <3 So, so sweet.
Your parents had quite the journey to get there. Talk about dedication! I didn't put two and two together until seeing it written on her hospital bassinet, but her birthday is the same as Brooke and Harrison's. May 16th is a great day for a birthday!
Your picture are beautiful, sweet girl! Love them!:) Sweet Mabel is definitely an easy baby to get adorable photos of!
How sweet of your parents to rush to get there! Mine would do the same thing! Your parents don't look old enough to be grandparents, by the way! I love the blanket and little hat on Miss Mabel. So sweet!
This makes my heart burst. So happy for you. 🙂
A perfect model indeed, Mabel is so darling! Second hospital stay was wayyyy better- I wonder if they only harass and bother first time moms?! Kidding (sorta) Nothing beats coming into the world with a tornado welcoming 🙂
Oh, Mable…I can't believe they spelled her name wrong! Geez! I am so glad your stay was better than expected…it does feel like there's constantly someone in your room. With Cam, I had to ask the nurses to come check on us both at the same time, because someone came in our room every 30 minutes, literally, to check one of us. It was a bit insane. PS What proud grandparents – and so many of them!!! They are all adorable! I am so glad your parents were finally able to get to you….it must have seemed like an episode of the Amazing Race! Ah!!
Congratulations!! She's beautiful and I'm glad to hear your family arrived ASAP. Be safe with all those tornadoes and snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. How's Abigail doing? I'm sure she's LOVING having family in town 🙂
So glad your hospital stay went well! And your poor parents. What a whirlwind from getting the call that Mabel was coming to packing to getting on the plane and finally to you. But I'd say it was all worth it to see that sweet baby's face! They don't look mad 🙂
And speaking of, poor Mabel. Already getting her name spelled wrong. I can't wait to see what happens when she's old enough for a Starbucks! Seems like those people can't spell anyone's name right (they spelled Seth's name like Z-E-T-H once! LOL)
Why do I always cry reading your posts! Those are the sweetest pics. I saw the one of your mom and said oh she dyed her hair lighter. Whoops. And the one of J's parents and you- sweet. You have (what seems from here) an amazingly kind family.
haha your poor parents! That is a hurry up and wait and get no sleep kind of evening.
Poor Mable…almost. Aria gets a-ray-a all.the.time. I mean I had no idea people couldn't say Aria, it is not even low on the popular list. I think it is top 50 in the recent social security name lists.
I love that you had so many families members that could come visit. After 26 hours of labor, all mine had to go back to work or school; thanks for being totally stubborn, Connor!
And while you didn't get the professional shots you wanted, you still got some great first day photos of Mabel and those will be worth more than gold when she is older.
I love this! Looking through these snapshots almost makes me teary eyed! (haha) she is just so perfect and I am so happy for yall!!
I laughed far too hard at your "doling out relaxing uterine massages"!!! And I cannot get over how absolutely beautiful you look post baby!
You look beautiful! And you have such a prefect little model! I'm glad your hospital stay was a good one.
Sweetest pics!! Glad it was a good stay!! ?