Leaving the Hospital...The Scariest Car Ride of My Life!

I could not WAIT to leave the hospital! I stayed for the mandatory 24 hours and then I got the heck out of there. Part of the reason I wanted to leave so quickly was because my daughter was born on December 23rd which meant that we were not able to leave the hospital until Christmas Eve and I really wanted to be home and with my family for Christmas. Even under different circumstances, I still would have left as soon as I did. The food is awful, the beds are incredibly uncomfortable and the bathrooms are not the nicest. If you have support at home, I would highly recommend going to the comfort of your own home as soon as you can!

Give yourself time to actually get out of the hospital. It took a lot longer to leave than we expected. There are security procedures that have to be followed before you are allowed to walk out of the door with your baby which are all well and good because it ensures that some random stranger can't just walk away with your baby, but they take FOREVER! By the time everything was said and done, my daughter wanted to nurse again which delayed leaving even more (for good reason). About an hour passed between the time we decided we wanted to leave and when we actually walked out of the door...and boy, was that SCARY!

Prepare yourself, that first car ride with your brand new baby is TERRIFYING!

Newborn babies are SO tiny and the car seats are SO big that it looks like the seat is going to swallow them up! Tightening that seat belt so that it is snug against their little body is no fun either. I was so afraid I was going to pull it too tight and hurt my little one. No one really tells you how snug the belts should be. A good rule of thumb is that the belts should be sung enough that you can't pinch the shoulder straps and get a hold of the belt. Too make sure it is not too tight, you should also be able to comfortably slide a couple of fingers under the chest plate. I can't stress enough how important it is that you tighten those belts properly. If you are ever in an accident, your baby should move as one with the seat rather then being able to be jostled around within it. Keep that in mind when you are feeling bad about buckling them in and pulling those straps tight!

Our 30 minute drive home took us more like 45 minutes because my husband was driving so incredibly cautiously! We laugh about it now when we look back on that night, but at the time we were both terrified. Our daughter started to cry shortly after we pulled out of the hospital parking lot and cried for most of the drive. She was so new and tiny and all I wanted to do was get her out of that seat and cuddle her. It was the longest car ride of my life!

We finally made it home around midnight to see Christmas Day arrive. I really wanted to be home for Christmas to be with my family, but I honestly don't remember any of it because I was so incredibly exhausted. I do vaguely remember opening gifts and eating brunch, but more importantly, my baby was home and I was comfortable and that was all that really mattered.