Homecoming

Discharge day.  
You've gotten the okay from the doctors that today you'll all go home!  No test to determine if you know what you're doing, but here you go, jumping into the parenting wilderness with only two or three days under your belt. 

After months of planning and peeing you get to see your baby's face without the help of technology.  You can see how she still curls up habitually from her cramped first home, but still can't imagine how she was albe to fit.  How did she fit inside of you?

The morning drags.  Getting everything ready is slower and more tedious that you imagined.  They check the carseat exists and usher you out of the door, and you are officially on your own.  Your baby looks so small inside of that gigantic seat!

The car will seem to hit every bump Chicago can muster. 

But you are going home.  Finally home.  

You carry your child up the steps and let the first sights, sounds, and smells wrap you and them in the warm hug that only this place can offer.  

You have imagined what it would be like for so long, and now how does it compare?  
You are a mom.  
You are a dad.  
Your home is not just an address, but where first words, first steps, and first loves will happen. 

Regardless of the struggles that will come, in this moment, you and your baby have a safe place to land and nothing but the future to walk into.  

Welcome home to the first days with your new baby.  

Written by Ariel Swift

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