E'Lana's Story(COMPLETED)

C-6: Hayden's Homecoming

|Today is Tuesday! Its only been a few days since my son's birth, but its felt like its been going way too fast, and at the same time too slow. I can't believe just three days ago, I had Hayden. I've been making multiple stops each day to the hospital, whether it be to drop off milk I pumped, or just to see his beautiful face and hold his tiny hand. I thank God everyday for blessing me with such a healthy boy. I know so many things could have went wrong given he wasn't even 38 weeks, which is the developmental date hospitals are willing to jump start labor. Dalton and I have currently just arrived at the hospital, with a car seat in the back. We arrived with it empty, we will leave with our son in it.|

8:22 AM - Tuesday, May 16

I almost can't believe Dalton is willing to skip today at school knowing he is prepping for finals this week, just to be here. Then again, I can. I would do the same thing. School is very important, but when you have a child, that's a different story. I wonder endlessly about how I'm going to pass finals when I haven't been at school. The principal told me I could come back for summer school to refresh my brain and go over everything I missed, then take my finals at that point. But I found that useless, as my goal for doing all of this was to graduate early and walk across the stage with the Seniors. I told him I would take the finals along with everyone else next week.

Dalton has been stopping by each of my classes to collect any work I missed, and bringing it home for me to complete. He turns it in the next day he goes to school, so I can get the credit. I've never doubted my intellectual abilities, one is only as smart as they are willing to learn, but seeing work that you haven't yet gone over can put you in a bit of a situation. Missing school means I don't learn what all my other peers learn, and sometimes Dalton doesn't know much about the work either, which means I have to take an even extensive amount of time referring to several sites and pondering over dozens of videos for insight.

I make it work. If I want to graduate, I have too.

"You okay?" Dalton asks from beside me. He slides one of his warm hands over my thigh, and I nod. "Just wishing they'd hurry up," I say, looking over at the blue and white bag. Inscribed on the front in cursive read Hayden.

Inside the bag there was just a outfit. It was what I had used to haul bags or bottles of my milk to the hospital. Since I'd emptied it last night, I only put the clothes he would be changed into going home. There was plenty of room for any additional things the nurses needed to give me for him, as well as excess milk he didn't get around to drinking.

I hear the door make a noise and the knob turns. I immediately stand up, my eyes beaming. Dr. Heinz comes in, holding a swaddled Hayden close to him. He looks up at me and smiles. "Good morning, E'Lana."

"Good morning," I reach my arms out in anticipation, wiggling for my fingers. He carefully places my little boy in them. Dalton rises from his spot to wrap his arms around me from behind and rest his chin on my shoulder. "Can't believe he came out of you," He whispers.

I shake my head, my eyes stinging with tears. "I can't either..." I hold him for a few more seconds until a nurse gives a small bag to Dr. Heinz for me. "E'Lana," He peers inside and nods approvingly. I almost stingily hand Hayden to Dalton, and move over to my doctor. "Yes?"

"Here's what he didn't get around to eating, along with some paperwork - it just shows the hours of when we did everything during his stay here and what exactly we did. It tends to make moms feel more secure when they know what's going on with their child in their absence. And something else special for you and your boyfriend."

I love gifts. I peek into the bag. There's two remaining bags of milk, probably no more than three ounces put together. There is also a few bottles of which I'd brought up to the hospital the day I was signed out, since we'd went baby shopping. I almost don't see anything out of the ordinary or special at all until my eyes caught hints of what looked to be a baby blue ribbon tied around a thick envelope. I close the bag and pull Dr. Heinz into a gigantic hug. "Thank you so much ... For everything you've done for me," I tell him.

He hugs me back and chuckles. "I assume I won't see you again for this reason for a while, huh?"

Tears fall down my face, and I wipe them away with a laugh as I look back at Dalton, who is sitting on the couch holding his son. He stares lovingly at him, and leans down softly kiss his forehead. I nod. "Yeah, I don't think Ill be here regarding another child for years. Hayden is enough for me. Maybe in the future, when he's seven or eight." I smile, and look at Dr. Heinz. "When is his first appointment?"

"When he's two weeks old, that information is also in the bag," He says with a huge grin. I nod, and thank him once more until he's called out to tend to other business. Josephine replaces him, where she says she'll help us to get him dressed and in his car seat nice and snug for our trip home. Even though I don't want her help, and I want to prove to Hayden I can do things for him on my own, I accept it. I know that after today, it'll just be us, and no doctors will be guiding us through anything or messing with us about this and that really.

She helps me to put Hayden into his homecoming outfit. Its a white onesie that says, "Get used to this, I'll be here for the next 18 years" in a fancy, wavy, print. There's a navy blue pair of pants that also go with it. They fit him a little loose, but by the time we come back to the hospital for his two week appointment, he'll be fitting them and most of the clothes he was bought perfectly.

After, Josephine helps Dalton and I buckle him into his car seat. He doesn't even open a eye through the entire process. We get him out to the car, and set him in, backwards-facing. Josephine says that's safer for him. I buckle him into the car, and sit in the back with him. Dalton agrees to be our chauffeur. I look at Josephine and express my gratitude. She merely smiles at me. "Be safe, E'Lana. All of you,"

|Before we go to Dalton's place, we make a stop at mine. Its new seeing everything that I owned cleared out ... It almost makes me cry. But I remember that its only at Dalton's. I promised my family that on the day Hayden got released, I'd bring him by. My three younger siblings, aged 5, 8, and 13, have been waiting for this for the longest. They are excited, and almost trample me to get to him the moment we pull up. My older sister sheds a few tears, and dawns more on the fact she and I will no longer be living together as opposed to her nephew, and my mom ... Mom was a rollercoaster of emotions, and was the first other than me and the doctors to feed Hayden. When it is time for us to go, it's a mob of tears and love.|

We don't make it to Dalton's house until half past twelve. I take my son out the carseat, as I miss holding him, and Dalton gets everything else willingly. I've been with him since I got released. The nursery they set up for Hayden in such little time is nothing less of perfection. I love it, almost as much as I love Dalton and Hayden. When they open the door for us, blue balloons are everywhere, and a banner is hanging that says, "Welcome Home, Hayden!".

When I step in, it's even more spectacular than I thought. Mr. And Mrs. Rivas had to have started working on all of this the moment we left out this morning. I feel proud, and once again, overwhelmed.

I laugh and look down at Hayden. His eyes slowly open. They flutter some. I kiss his little hands, and show him his new home. The tour ends in his nursery. By that time, he's dozed off again as you'd expect any newborn to do. I set him in his nursery, and he gives one big stretch, a squeaky yawn, and rolls into a plush bear before those beautiful eyes shut, and he falls into a slumber. A crying Mrs. Rivas stands next to me. "My God, he's perfect..."

Her husband, smiling ear-to-ear, steps up to my opposite side.

Like he'd done in the hospital, Dalton stands behind me, his arms circling my waist. My world couldn't get any better. All eyes are on Hayden, the baby boy who's already won over both sides of our family. I try to hold back my tears, but I can't.

"Welcome home, Hayden." I whisper, but everyone hears it. In sync, Dalton, and his parents say, "Welcome home."