Debs was pretty tired by this morning. I’d been able to get a good 8 hours solid sleep at home; once I was done with all the blog updates, emails, phone calls and Skype… Debs was pretty wiped out though having been able to get very little sleep on the ward, which was actually quite noisy with crying babies, call alarms and constant staff rounds.
Morning visit is quite short, especially as tardy boy was half an hour late! But no cries of “Where have you been? You just don’t care!” which was a relief. To everyone’s delight, today turned out to be the day Marcail would be coming home. With her and mum being in such good shape, and with her latching on to the milk bar so quickly there wasn’t any reason to hold off. Debs for one was looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a quiet environment; Marcail had slept superbly well on her first night.
I nipped home to get lunch, a few emergency supplies that we realised we lacked (warm cardigan and bootees) and to collect granny Begbie for afternoon visiting. Debs really was in great shape, considering she’d had a 17 hour workout followed by almost no sleep. In fact, she was getting caught up on all the communications from people on my iPhone; a piece of technology which, much of the time, she professes to hate file this one away for future use…
Of course, as soon as we were in the ward Granny had eyes for only one person
really! “Can I?” But before you could get beyond “Y…” she’d scooped up grandchild number 12 and was heading for the chair. For a couple of newbies such as us, it’s good to see a newborn being handled by a seasoned pro; 6 national caps herself and a further 12 now from the next generation in the team. One thing we’ve both noticed is that you seem to feel naturally more confident when it’s your own little one than when it’s one you’ve borrowed and have to hand back in the same condition in which you hired it.
All of Marcail’s tests checked out fine: hearing, feeding and pooping, so we were on our way on the first car ride by about 6pm. We arrived at the house just as Barbara was getting home from work. As soon as she heard it wasn’t just me in the car she ran, cheetah like, for first dibs on the new neighbour. Then Sheila and Brian, not wanting to be outdone, came racing across the road, only to arrive a distant second. Introductions and cooing done, Debs spoke to Mia, who was just beside herself to have mummy home again, and then we all met up for the first time together.
So far, Mia (the eponymous Doglet) has been great. Very curious and loving in a submissive and slightly perplexed sort of a way. She’s not so sure what’s going on when the siren starts, but she’ll get to grips with that. So that was it. All home, all well, all very excited.
Finally just a couple of 
pictures from the 14th. She’s changed a lot already, puffing up and de-wrinkling almost as you watch. Her nose is starting to fill out and she’s got a couple of wee scratches from those nails. I just love her nose. It’s so small and cute and covered in little milk spots. It’s a joy simply to sit and watch her, take in all the little details and watch them change from day to day.