Much to her dismay, Olivia had to spend another three nights in the hospital before they released her to go home. With everything that happened, Dr. Thompson wanted her there for a while, so she could make sure everything was in order and that Olivia was strong enough to be out of the hospital.
They had arrived at the hospital Tuesday night, Olivia had Kolby on Wednesday night, and it wasn't until late Sunday morning that she was finally sent home. She had never been so ready to leave anywhere. She was tired of being confined to a bed and she just wanted to have her little girl at home with them.
And she missed Miles greatly, it had been five days since she had seen him, since Dr. Thompson had suggested that bringing the one year old in would be a little too much for his mom.
As Brian placed his daughter into her car seat, Olivia signed her release papers. Dr. Thompson came in while the couple was getting ready to leave, just to go over the instructions for home one more time.
"So, I need you to make sure you are taking it as easy as possible. I'm not going to tell you that have to be on complete bed rest, but you can't overdo it. You need to be moving as little as possible, so no working out and no lifting, which I know will be hard with another baby at home, but you have to be careful of your incision." Dr. Thompson had gone over all of this already with both parents separately, but she wanted to make sure she got the message across.
"How long until, I'll be back without restrictions?" Olivia questioned, worried about how she was going to take care of two children under two if she couldn't even hold one of her kids.
Dr. Thompson sighed, understanding the worry for Olivia. "I would say at least two weeks and that may be pushing it. It will probably be closer to three or four."
Olivia gave her a look that said you have to be kidding me. "That long?"
"I know it seems like a long time, but you have to let yourself heal. You've been through a very difficult delivery and major surgery, Olivia; your body has to recover. I'll see you in a week and then again at two weeks out, we'll decide then how long you'll need to be careful." Dr. Thompson told her. "And that brings up another question I had for you guys, do you have any extra help? I know it's going to be hard to only have one fully functioning parent, so it would be nice if you had a little extra support."
This time Brian answered her. "My mom will be around whenever we need her, so hopefully we'll be okay."
Brian's mom had offered already to be around and help out in any way she could, but after Brian had filled her in on everything that had happened to Olivia, she had promised to do everything she could to help them. They were both thankful for the extra hand, because they knew the next few weeks would be hectic and any help they could get was welcomed.
"Great." Dr. Thompson said. "Now I will see you in a week for your follow up." With that she left the room.
After finishing the paperwork, gathering up all of their belongings, and making sure the baby was securely strapped in and covered with a blanket to shield her from the cold, the couple finally headed home.
Olivia spent the car ride in the backseat with Kolby. She was still in a great deal of pain from the surgery, not to mention how sore she was from twenty one hours of labor.
When they arrived at the apartment, Brian got out of the car first, coming round to the passenger side backseat, to help Olivia out of the SUV. He was extremely careful and made sure not to move to fast, because he knew how sensitive her body was to any sudden movement. After helping her out, he grabbed the car seat that was holding a now sleeping Kolby. They made their way from the car to the elevator up to the fourth floor and to their apartment very slowly. Olivia could only move so fast and she was leaning on Brian for support, since she was still pretty weak.
When they finally got into the apartment, Kolby had woken back up and was fussing in her car seat. Brian set her down on the coffee table, hoping she could wait a few minutes, and helped Olivia sit down on the couch. When her mom was somewhat comfortable, Brian unbuckled Kolby from her seat and handed her to Olivia, along with a blanket, so Liv could feed her.
While Olivia tended to her daughter, Brian put everything from their hospital bags away and called Cragen, to tell him that he could drop Miles off now. They had wanted to wait until they were home and settled before the older man dropped off their son.
When Brian returned to the living room, Olivia was finishing feeding Kolby. Brian took the baby from her mom and gently laid her against his shoulder, where he had put a burb rag. He paced around the living room while he burped his daughter.
Brian turned to face Liv, "So Cragen is going to drop off Miles in about twenty minutes and I told him he could see Kolby before he left, is that okay?"
"Of course." Olivia answered. She never minded seeing her captain and although she wasn't feeling too up to having visitors, she was eager for the man to meet her daughter.
"And my mom will be over later this afternoon." Brian continued. "She said wouldn't stay long unless we needed her, but she's bringing some food for us for the next couple of days and she just wants to make sure we're all set for a while."
"Okay, sounds good." Olivia told him. She was so grateful to have Evelyn be willing to help them.
As the day progressed, Cragen had come and gone, dropping off Miles and meeting Kolby. Olivia could see that he instantly fell in love with the little girl and it made her happy to know that her kids would always have him in their lives.
After he had left though, the chaos started to ensue. Miles had just woken up from a nap and he was sort of cranky and he was fighting Brian who was trying to hold and was reaching for his mom. Olivia felt horrible, watching him reach and cry for her, because there was nothing she could do about it. He did finally settle down though and Brian was able to start some laundry while Liv watched him play in the living room.
When Cragen left, Brian, upon Olivia's request, had put Kolby in her swing in the living room. She seemed to like it and the rocking motion had put her to sleep. Miles had been unsure of the new person in his home. He had walked over to the swing and inspected the baby who was in it. Liv had gotten a good laugh watching her son; he was obviously, uncertain of this new baby who was in his house.
But when Kolby had woken up, Miles wasn't having it. Kolby had started whining and let out a few little cries, before wailing when her needs weren't met fast enough. At first, Miles hadn't been affected by the noise, but when she had begun to cry, Miles followed suit, letting out a few of his own wails, before his tears started running.
"Brian!" Olivia yelled from her spot on the couch. She felt absolutely helpless. All she could do was sit and watch her children cry.
Brian, who had gone to start laundry, came running into the room. He grabbed Kolby out of the swing first and gave her to Liv, to feed. Then he picked Miles up from where he sat on the floor and tried to comfort him.
It took twenty minutes before the parents got a little peace. When Liv had finished feeding Kolby, Brian had taken her again, burped her and then took her into her nursery to change her diaper and outfit that she had spit up on. While he did that, Olivia sat with Miles on the couch. He had calmed down and was content sitting next to his mommy watching TV and having a little snack.
When Brian's mom had stopped by, she came just in time for more chaos. Miles had started crying and screaming, because he was hungry and unhappy that someone wasn't feeding him right that instance. Kolby, had been asleep, but at the sound of her brother's screams, she had woken up and wouldn't stop fussing no matter what Brian and Olivia tried.
When Brian answered the door his mom was standing on the other side, with a bag filled with what looked like containers of food. "You guys are a loud bunch; I could hear you from the hallway."
"Not surprising." Brian commented. "I don't think it's been quiet since we've all been home."
Evelyn walked into the kitchen and set the food on the counter. "There are a couple casseroles and some spaghetti in there and a salad. And I had some strawberries and other berries I had frozen, so I threw those in there for Miles, because I know he'll eat them."
"Thanks mom." Brian told her sincerely.
"Of course." She told him and walked into the living room where Olivia was still sitting with Miles.
Miles let go of his snack container and reached for the older woman. She reached for him and picked him up from the couch.
"How are you feeling, hun?" She asked Olivia.
"I'm okay." Olivia told her. "Happy to be home."
Brian's mom set down Miles on the floor, where he was quickly distracted by one of his toys. Evelyn went up to her son, who was still holding a fussy Kolby, and took the whining baby in her own arms. She laid Kolby over her form arm, turning her side ways, and began to bounce her gently. It wasn't something either parent had thought of, seeing as they hadn't ever had experience with a newborn, but Evelyn had.
She looked up from the baby at the parents who were watching her and their now content daughter. "Old trick." She said to both of them. "Brian always wanted to be held like this, it's the only way he would fall asleep when he was baby."
"Well it looks like someone takes after their dad. We'll have to remember that one." Olivia said.
Once Kolby had fallen asleep, she handed her granddaughter back to Brian, who put her back into her swing, setting it on low.
"I think you guys are alright without me, so I'm going to head home, but let me know if either of you need anything." Evelyn said as she headed for the door.
Both Brian and Olivia said thank you and goodbye and the older woman left the parents to tend to their two children.
By the time nine pm rolled around, both Olivia and Brian were exhausted. Miles had been fine up until his bath time and then he had thrown a fit when Brian tried to give him his bath instead of his mom. It took Brian nearly twenty minutes to get him in the bath, let alone actually clean him up. While he dealt with that, Olivia fed Kolby and burped her.
When they finally lay down in bed, the parents fell asleep almost instantly, the day's events leaving them both drained.
Olivia had known it was going to be a challenge to have both of her kids at home, but she had never expected the added stress of still being in pain and restricted as far as how much she could do. Although she was happy to be home, she was worried about how stressful these next few weeks would be, especially after Brian went back to work and she was home alone with her son and daughter. All the thoughts running through her mind, made for a restless night's sleep.