Chapter 7
Liv's First day home
While the nurse wheels liv out of the hospital she sits in the wheel chair with a sad look on her face. "Liv look at me baby "el says as he starts to stroke Liv's hair. Liv looks at El with tears in her eyes as she leans in to El's touch. "What's Wrong Livvy love?" El asks as he gives her a soft kiss on her forehead. "I feel like I'm so dependent." "Liv baby why do you feel like that." "I feel this way because since I was shot I can't do anything anymore." "It's ok Liv when it heals fully you be able to do more on your own again." She nods her head as the nurse stops her wheelchair in front of the car. We thank the nurse then I help liv in the car. I help her buckle her seat belt so she doesn't ripe her stitches. She starts to cry silent tears and turns away from me. "Liv look at me baby" I say as I turn her face back towards me and kisses away her tears. "Its ok liv I don't think your helpless baby." "I Know that El, but I feel like it because I can bearly do anything for myself." I kiss her lips then stand up and walk to the driver's side of the car.
I get in buckle my own seat belt and take her hand. The drive to the lower Manhattan 3 story brownstone we bought for the two families to live in was most quiet. That was the case expect for the music that was coming through the stereo from liv's IPOD. Liv is softly singing along to the song that is currently playing. The song was Bonnie McKee's American girl. This song has always been one of Olivia's favorites since it first came out. She has no idea where we are going, because I have not told her the news about the brownstone yet. The brownstone is about 25 minutes from Mercy general hospital and u took a detour so they could finish getting it ready for Olivia's homecoming. About half way through the drive Olivia looks over at me. "EL where are we going? I thought we were going home?" "We are, but I thought we could take a little drive first let you could calm down." "I have no problem with that el none at all."
After about an hour of driving I get a text from Alex saying that they finished getting our new place ready for liv. I text Alex back saying "give us 30 minutes and we will be there." By this point in the drive liv is asleep so I turn the car around and head for our new home. I drive with the radio on low so it doesn't disturb Olivia. There is light traffic so it takes us a little longer than I told Alex it would take. Olivia is so worn out from being in the hospital that she slept through the whole ride. That was good for me because I had time to figure out the best way to explain the new house. I was a little worried to tell you the truth because I didn't discuss it with Olivia first. We would normally make this kind of decisions together. I knew once she recovered she was going to kick my butt. My stomach starts to knot up as we approach our new street I guess it's just the nerves. As I turn the corner Liv's eyes were all over the place" like what's going on. "Liv I know we needed a bigger house so Alex and I brought a brownstone. We did it so all of us could live together after you were discharged from the hospital." "Oh El I love it we've always wan ted to liv in a brownstone. With this we are finally making our dreams come true.' "We knew you wanted to be closer to your mom (Judge Elizabeth Donnelly) so we bought one that was in her neighborhood." "El that's great because you know I don't like to be far away from my mom."
Liv and I get out of the car I'm so excited to show her the inside of the house. I go on her left side to support her because her belly is still sore. The doctors told us that she may have some pain for the first couple days. The doctor explained that her stitches would be pulling as she walked or flexed. He said that there were a few things that could help with the pain besides pain meds of course. Some of those thinmgs would be …
1. Limit your movement
2. Have someone support you when you walk
3. Don't overdo it when you're feeling pain.
4. Warms baths
5. No running
6. No swimming
7. Be careful when you cough
There are more ways but these are the ones I found most important. The no running restriction was going to be hard on liv because she loves to go for long runs in central park. Now I guess I'm going to have to sit through all of her soaps while she gets caught up. Then I'm going to have to find a way to make her forget about running that's not going to be easy. Olivia's body craves exercise so it will be hard for her not to be able to do it. I sense a lot of arguments over the next 2 weeks. Olivia is a very independent person so she like to do thinks for herself as much as possible. I have the magic touch though because I can get her to let me take care of her Alex can too.