I Suck At Easter

My mother-in-law got her wish today. When our daughter (Briana) was born prematurely on St. Patty's Day, my mother-in-law hoped that Briana would be out of intensive care and home from the hospital before Easter. As luck would have it, Briana came home the Thursday before... just in time for the Easter Bunny.

(Speaking of the Easter Bunny, the video below is one of my favorite Easter videos.)


Needless to say, today Karen, Briana, and I celebrated Easter with my parents and my in-laws. Too bad I suck at Easter. I was actually expecting Easter to be full of stress... with my mother and my mother-in-law vying to hold Briana for hours upon hours and preventing her from getting her sleep (which is important as she needs to grow to an appropriate body weight). As it turned out, Easter went pretty well.

As Karen and I were still exhausted trying to find a routine that worked with Briana's feeding schedule, my in-laws decided to bring Easter dinner to our house. They prepared the Easter staple known as ham, complete with fixings. It was quite the delicious meal. Everyone got their chance to hold Briana for a little while. (My father even got to hold her for the first time.)

With the nice beautiful weather, we even got to take Briana out for a little stroll around the neighborhood. It was good to get out of the house for some fresh air.

I even had the luxury of just getting out on my own. And what better destination to go... than South Shore Hospital, where Briana was born. As a token of our appreciation for the quality of care that the hospital provided our daughter, Karen and I had my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) wrap two baskets of goodies containing healthy snacks from Trader Joe's. (Being married to dietitian, the snacks of course had to be healthy.)

I think the staff at the hospital were delighted that I visited, especially since I was carrying presents for them. My visit probably broke up the monotony of the day for them. Plus, with it being Easter after all, things were pretty quiet in the neonatal intensive care unit and the special care nursery.

I spent a good amount of time chatting with the staff. As a side note, there is a nurse practitioner (Amy) on the hospital staff that looks like my friend (Hot Amy). I thought it was comical that they had the same name. I guess by the mathematical transitive property, the nurse practitioner could also be called "Hot Amy". (For anyone curious, the transitive property is "if a=b and b=c, then a=c".)

There is also a nurse (Jen) who reminded me of Selma Blair. And there is a doctor who reminded me of Jenna Fischer (of The Office fame). Yes, maybe I have too much time on my hands. The only reason why I even brought up the topic was because Hot Amy, the nurse practitioner, was there today.

Anyway, following the brief visit to the hospital, I actually stopped on by Janine's for a little refreshment before heading back home. All in all, it was a good Easter.