The Rest Of The Story

August 18^th – August 24^th

After a good nights rest we arrived at the hospital around 11:30am for discharge.  An American Adoption representative was there to assist us.  The nurses changed Ava into her pretty going home dress and gave us some newborn education materials.  We also got to keep her little wrist identification band, cradle identification card, and we got a keepsake birth certificate (not original) with her footprints on it.  It was so surreal leaving the hospital.  I even got pushed out in a wheelchair while holding Ava!  

After discharge we decided to change hotels since we knew we were going to be in town for a little while.  We ended up at a nice resort on Clearwater Beach.  It was nice to take an hour a day and relax in the swimming pool.  Those first few nights were funny.  I kept peeking over at Ava sleeping.  Hardly able to see because I didn’t have my contacts in and I was only using the light from my cell phone.  Overall, she was EXCELLENT for the entire stay in the hotel.  Neighbors probably didn’t even realize we had an infant.  Jonathan and I took our shifts and worked great as a team.  Every day at 8am I put in my ear plugs and was out for at least 4 hours.

A couple days after discharge we were able to meet up with Ava’s birth mom, biological grandma, and aunt.  We had dinner and spent about 3 hours together.  It was a great time.  I think they had a little closure as well.  It was nice to get pictures and have these memories to share when she is older.

While in Florida we also had Ava’s first pediatrician appointment and took her for her newborn portraits.  We took her to lunch, dinner, and the store.  She was good everywhere we went.  The hotel even gave Ava her first souvenir.  A little bucket with her name on it and a shovel.  We hope to return to the beach someday so she can enjoy this!

We did get a lot of questions from people who were wondering why we were out and about with such a young baby.  We had to explain that we were NOT on vacation!  We didn’t always openly mention adoption.  So, I was also told several times how great I looked for just giving birth!!  HAHA!!   Oh, and that I must have had a lot of indigestion since she has a lot of hair!  We just smiled and kept on.

We were very happy to finally get the call that we could head home.  All the family was very excited to see her and we just wanted to get settled as a family in our own home.  She was such an angel on the airplane.  She slept the entire time, even during takeoff and landing.  We were relieved.  It was very exciting to be HOME!