First bath at home

The overnight stay at the hospital went very well. We all came out unscathed. The doctor wanted to check Carter's bilirubin level one more time before discharging us mid morning. That came back acceptable and off we were.

I don't know if I was expecting him to ask us a lot of questions about the place once we brought him into the apartment, but Carter mostly slept all day. That night, we planned on giving him his first bath at home without the professional guidance of the NICU staff.

We thought we had begun to develop a routine with him. You see, he has the tendency to eat himself to sleep (sound like anyone else we know?) very quickly. So to avaoid irritating him with a diaper change afer, we had started to change his diaper right after he woke, feed him, burp him, and back to sleep. He seemed okay with that.

So, back to the bath...

It seemd to us that the logical place to insert the bath segment was after the diaper change (or in this case, removal) and before the feeding. We are pretty sure this was the order in which we witnessed it at the NICU.

So, our little man wakes up, we disrobe him and we, what some would say, successfully bathe him. I like to think he is partial to having his little head of hair washed as he starts to drift off to happy land when I have done it (once so far). He doesn't really care for the whole washing of the rest of his body though (is that a boy thing?).



I do remember one crucial piece of advice that the nurse gave us...cover up the "danger zone". It is well known that when stimulated with cool air certain body parts kick into action. So we made sure to keep that "area" covered as much as possible...little did I realize that area was the least of my worries.

Once the bath was completed, we spent a few minutes snuggling and drying off. He likes the snuggling, not so much with the drying off.



We walk back to his room, where I was planning on administering a new diaper & fresh clothes when...it happened.

Years from now, this occurrence may be known as "The Thunder from Down Under", but right now we are referring to it as "Crap!".

In what actually took about 2 seconds, but seemed like an eternity, our little man (without breaking eye contact with me) scrunched up his face and proceeded to deposit a gift for me in his bath towel. More precisely, right where my hand was supporting him. Then the little bugger gave me a smirk!

My first thought..."When did he start eating corn?"

So, my little man eats himself to sleep, can polish off a bottle in seconds flat, and is showing proficiency in the potty humor department.

That's my boy!