Dreams On Fire

This Is Home

Meredith and Ellis stayed in the hospital for a few days after Ellis was born; Meredith's stay was mandatory since she had a c-section and it had been a complication, and Ellis had stayed since her mother was there and everyone knew Meredith would raise hell if her daughter was sent home and she was not. And so what was supposed to be two days, ended up being four, until Connie and Arizona both signed her discharge papers.

Alex was called upon to take Meredith down to Derek's car. Normally she would bitch and moan about being in a wheelchair, but she was too involved in gazing at her oerfect baby girl in her arms. Only once they were outside and she tucked a warmer blanket around Ellie, before Alex helped her into the car. Her c-section scar was killing her, and Derek ran around to her side of the car and took Ellis, buckling herself into her carseat, before getting into the drivers seat and smiling at Meredith.

"You ready to bring her home?" he asked her with a smile.

"I'm about as ready as I'll ever be, she's our third. It should be easy by now, right?" she giggled, already completely exhausted. Derek started the car and they were off on the hour-long drive to Bainbridge.

Once the family arrived at home, Derek grabbed the carseat and Meredith followed him into the house. There were banners and streamers everywhere, with Amelia chasing Bailey and Zola around.

"Hey Amy we're home," Derek said, setting the car seat on the kitchen table. Zola squealed and ran over to Derek.

"Daddy I missed you so much! Is that my new baby sister!?" She exclaimed, climbing on the table

Meredith laughed and went over to the table, gently unbuckling Ellis from her seat and lifting her into her arms.

"Why don't you sit on the couch and you can hold her? Bails can sit with you and daddy can take photos, she said with a smile. Amelia was in the kitchen busy preparing something to eat. The three kids sat on the couch, with baby Ellie on Zola's lap, and they snapped photo after photo, knowing that they'd never be able to capture this moment in time again.

In the hospital Ellis had been a great sleeper – all she did was sleep and only wake up when she was hungry. Home was an entirely different story. She went to sleep in the bassinet, but when she woke up to eat she refused to go back to sleep, wailing on and o for hours. Luckily Derek had taken paternity leave so he was home with Meredith, and with their bedroom downstairs it seemed easier to keep the screaming baby away from the rest of the household, but soon enough Zola entered the room with a frown on her face.

"Mommy, why won't Ellie stop crying? I have school in the morning and I'm sleepy," she whined. Derek picked her up and brought her back to her room, laying with her until she fell asleep, but Ellis had woken up Amelia. She didn't care as much since she had crazy hours as a doctor, and the three adults too turns trying to calm Ellie. Meredith even tried to feed her again but to no avail

Finally around 5:30 in the morning, Ellis fell asleep with the tree adults passing out on Meredith and Derek's bed. Meredith had texted Arizona and Callie to please come pick up the older kids, and when hey did she barely heard them, she was that exhausted. She had forgotten how much work it was to have a newborn; Bailey had cried a lot in the beginning and it had been crazy, but somehow they'd made it work.

Ellis slept for awhile, and didn't wake up until around 10, this time with a dirty diaper. Amelia volunteered to chance t and soon she had a sweet baby in her arms who was hungry.

"Mer, are you breastfeeding or pumping?" she asked her sister in law, who's eyes were still closed.

"Breast until I go back to work," she mumbled, sitting up a bit. She unhooked the breast feeding bra she wore and took Ellie, gently guiding her so that she latched on almost write away. Derek was still asleep next to her and Amelia yawned loudly.