Thanks for your comments

And okay then, Hester Willa it is.

Last night I spent the night at the hospital with Hester. Hester had a pretty tough night: she vomited, cried, refused to eat, and was comforted only when I held her. Truth be told, I would have held her all night if her nurses had allowed it. And I'd have done so happily. In the end, I only got 1.5 hours of sleep. But here's what's weird--I was really and truly happy to be awake with her. Go figure.

Having Hester in the hospital is taking its toll on me in daily wear and tear. This is my current schedule during the work week:

8am-6pm: Work at home in central MA

6pm: Grab overnight bag and Hester's bag of clean laundry and race to car

6:15-7:15pm: Run any essential errands in town (grocery, post office, etc.), then drive to the hospital

OR

6:15-7:15pm: Burn rubber driving to the hospital. It's an hour away

7:15-8:15pm or so: Arrive at hospital. Spend time with Hester. Feed her, change her, love on her. At some point, start drowsing off and hand her back to her nurses so that she can be hooked up to her monitors (this is their requirement, not mine)

11pm-4:30am: Feed Hester on demand. Settle her after feedings

4:30am: Hop in shower at hospital. Pack up stuff, clean up hospital room. Grab Hester's dirty laundry to wash at home

5:10am: Hit the road for home

5:15am: Stop at Sbux just before jumping on the highway

5:15-6:15am: Burn rubber heading home for work. Listen to NPR, try to get my mind settled for the day before me

6:15am: Do Hester's laundry and any items of Petunia's and mine from the night before

6:20am: Open mail from the day before

6:30-8am: Clean for kids. Mop, dust, windows, vacuum, and do other tasks as needed

8am-6pm: Work at home

Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Some nights the hospital is too full for us to stay, so we end up leaving the hospital around 11pm. Those are the nights when we drive home all crazy-tired, trying like mad to keep ourselves awake. When we get home, we putz around the house for a bit and finally go to sleep around 1:30am. Those days are worse for me since it's so hard to be away from Hester Willa. Sleeping in my own bed is nice, but I can fall asleep anywhere these days. The hospital could give me a bed of nails and I swear I'd say thanks and curl right up, snoring like a fool before my head ever hit the proverbial pillow.

And so it goes. We'll probably be doing this for another 3-4 weeks. Although it's tiring and worrisome, I'm just so glad that Hester is doing well. I'm even more glad that she's our little girl.

She couldn't be more precious, could she? The cuteness is overwhelming! I love her so much.