Infinity and Beyond

52 - Let's Get Married

Ashton

Sophie was in hospital for 97 days.

We didn't keep a day by day tally, but it was easy enough to work out by the end of it. Each day in between that and her being born was a milestone on its own, all leading up to bigger ones: being able to breathe on her own, being able to leave the incubator for longer and longer periods of time, being able to feed from Emily or a bottle rather than through wires. The biggest milestone, of course, was her being able to leave the hospital.

And on the 98th day, we could take her home.

We'd spent Emily's first Mother's Day in there, and she and her mum had celebrated her mum's birthday on FaceTime with Sophie from within those same four walls, and now it was almost my birthday. We knew it was approaching, of course, but hadn't really thought about it in the midst of everything else. It wasn't until the day before that we actually discussed it, and we were sat talking about whether we were going to do anything, fully expecting it to be another day in the hospital as usual.

"We could always go out for just an hour or two in the evening," Emily suggested. "Your mum was only saying yesterday she'd like to come and see Sophie again, so I know she would be more than okay with staying here with her for a short while. It wouldn't be long."

"What would we do? It wouldn't feel right having a party - maybe we could order takeaway and just chill out for the evening," I said, and just as I finished talking Emily looked over my shoulder and smiled.

"Hi!" she said and I turned to see the midwife walking in.

"Hi," she said back with a smile. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, we were just deciding what to do for Ashton's birthday tomorrow."

"You could take Sophie home," the midwife replied without missing a beat. Emily and I stared at her, too shocked to even blink.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"She's made amazing progress and can do what we'd expect a newborn to do. We'll observe her tonight and do some checks in the morning, but assuming it's all okay you'll be able to take her home tomorrow."

"Oh my gosh," Emily gasped and I saw her tearing up. "Really?"

"Yep. You might want to spend some time this evening getting everything ready at home."

"We need a carseat," I told Emily straight away. "Wait, do we need a car seat? Do we already have a car seat?"

"I don't know, we need a few things still. The nursery's all sorted, but we need some stuff for her downstairs like a blanket and more toys. But ask one of the others to check and see if we have a car seat, I can't remember."

"This is so exciting. I can't believe this is happening - is this actually happening?" I checked and Emily nodded with an elated giggle. We hugged each other tightly and I stroked her hair as she cried; I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tearing up as well.

"You're going home, sweetheart," she said to Sophie when she pulled out of the hug. I joined her and reached in to hold Sophie's hand.

"You're going home."

We called the band house and told them all the news, and then got them to run round and collect an inventory of everything we had. As it had been months now since we did any shopping, and it had been the last thing on our mind while we were in hospital, we'd lost track of everything we had and hadn't bought. It took a while to get the list from them - and to translate things, such as 'weird handkerchiefs' to muslin cloths and 'video walkie-talkies' to baby monitors - but we eventually had one compiled. We did have a car seat, it turned out, and all we needed to get was a few basics like nappies, some more clothes and a room thermometer. Neither of us were keen on leaving Sophie still, but knowing we'd have her at home with us tomorrow made it much easier for us to be convinced to go for just an hour or two while we shopped.