The Day We Left The Hospital

On Saturday, May 29, we took our baby home from the hospital.  He was 3 days old.   It had been a long but enjoyable hospital stay and we were ready to go. 

On Thursday of that week Volcan Pacaya erupted and covered all of Guatemala City and surrounding areas with black sand.  It looked like it had snowed, but instead of everything being white, it was ALL black.  It was a sight to see. People had been busy all day Friday trying to clean it up. 

Then, on late Friday, early Saturday, Tropical Storm Agatha moved across Guatemala.  It brought torrential rains which caused many landslides, flooding, and damage.  Many lost their homes and lives that day.  We left the hospital right in the middle of it.  It took us double the normal time to get home because of the rains and water in the roads.  We saw mudslides along the way, and many areas that looked to be on the verge of falling.  It was not a good day to have a new born baby out and about!  We did make it home safely, and were glad we did!

Here are a few photos from that day-

This was our room after the baby's birth.  We spent three nights in here.  David slept on the couch in the background.

He looks real excited about going home, huh. 

This is the outfit he wore home from the hospital.  I had another outfit I planned for him to wear, but it was way too cold and rainy for him to wear it.  I opted for this long sleeve one instead.

He looked really cute in it.  I think we like him in light blue the best.

This was his empty hospital crib.  This picture made me sad!

He had been a wonderful baby the whole time we were in the hospital.  Everyone commented on how tranquil and calm he was.  We were very proud of him!  BUT, the moment I sat down in the wheelchair to head down to the car with him, he began to cry.  I don't just mean cry, I mean SCREAM, cry, turn red, kick, jerk, you name it!  You would think I had another child, not mine. He did this all the way down the hall, during the elevator ride, and all the way out to the car.  Keep in mind, there was a tropical storm going on and the weather was terrible.  Loading him in the car in this condition along with the weather, was awful!  Everyone in the hospital knew that the "white baby" had left.  I was terribly embarrassed.  There was nothing I could do to calm him down.  Because of this, I didn't get a single photo of us leaving the hospial.   I was sad about that too.  He fussed a while in the car and then he returned to this-

our sweet baby!

Once we got home we put him in his bed and he slept peacefully. I am sure he had no idea what was going on outside. We, on the other hand, did not have as good of an adjustment.  The power soon went out and it got cold and dark.  We only had one candle in our apartment.  We used a flashlight to change his clothes and diapers.  We heated up on the stove (thank goodness for gas) a spaghetti meal provided by a friend and ate it by candlelight.  We joked that we were having a romantic dinner on our first night home with a baby.  Soon afterwards we all went to bed and slept well.  It was quite an eventful day, but one filled with lots of memories we'll be able to share with Cruz someday.  We've already had quite a few good laughs thinking back on it now.