first night away

Like so many wise people have told us, the most important lesson we can teach Hazel is that her parents love each other. So even though she is only 2 months old, when we were offered an opportunity to attend an overnight marriage retreat, we jumped at the chance. Okay, "we" is a bit off. James jumped at the chance, and I had to be dragged away from my precious baby, kicking and screaming.

A wonderful coworker, who is the oldest of 6 girls, volunteered to spend 24+ hours with Hazel. Yes, she is quite a brave one to offer to stay overnight with a newborn! About two days before the marriage retreat, I had decided we weren't going to do this, that it was just too much trouble for this poor lady to watch Hazel all by herself. What if she couldn't swaddle her just so? What if there wasn't enough milk in the freezer? What if Hazel pooped all over her? But luckily, James convinced me to re-change my mind, and off we went. We also had two other wonderful ladies volunteer to help the last 12 hours of the retreat, so we were responsibility-free for 36 hours.

That night was horrible for me! I am not exaggerating when I say I slept about 4 hours that night. I was so worried about Hazel! It was pretty ridiculous, too. Sometime around 1 or 2 in the morning, I woke up my sleeping husband in a panic. "What if Laura covered Hazel's face with a blanket?!" I practically screeched. Yes, feel free to laugh, I am laughing typing this. I mean, who would ever cover a baby's face with a blanket? Let alone the super responsible oldest sister of 6 kids! But at that point, I could not be reassured. To calm my tears (yes, I was crying over this!), James finally grabbed his phone and said he was going to call Laura to make sure she didn't cover Hazel's face with a blanket. I started crying harder and told him not to, because Laura would surely think we were crazy. Even through my tears I knew that of course no one would be that stupid.

I was dying to see Hazel all night. I would picture her face and longed to rock her. I just knew she hadn't slept well, and poor Laura was cursing the day she agreed to watch Hazel. Finally it was 8am, and so we called Laura. Turns out, Hazel only woke up once during the night, and of course everyone was fine. No one had been pooped on, no one's head had been covered with a blanket. Just as everyone had tried to tell me, I had nothing to worry about.

I still think it may have been a bit too early for my fragile new mother heart to stay away from my baby, but at least now the next time around won't be near as bad! And the retreat? Soooo worth it!

Hazel-less at a romantic Valentine's dinner.