Almost 6 Weeks Old

Things have definitely been crazy in the McCauley household and Owen has been going right along with it all like a CHAMP!

In the past few weeks he has taken countless naps and walks, 

been to several track meets, 

2 movies (one of the them being the Avengers of course!),  2 graduations (one in St. Louis), 

There was no room for the carseat so Nick stowed it under his seat during the commencement.

Jackie is now a Master of Counseling!!!!

Co-Salutitorian Kristine!

helped friends move and...

Jill had to take a break from all the moving to spend some quality time with Owen.

turned one month old! 

There are so many things that have changed for Nick and I since we became parents.  Here are some things all you future parents can look forward to....

-The first night home from the hospital seems like it will never end.

-You only look in the rearview mirror, while driving, to check on the baby.... and you look a lot!!!

-You will hold the baby for 3 hours, without moving, because they finally fell asleep and you don't want to wake them.

-Every noise the baby makes is the most wonderful thing you have ever heard... including bodily functions (except for crying).

-But at night when you put them down to sleep, you hope they'll be quiet for a few minutes so you can fall asleep.

-Then when they are quiet you hope they make noise so you'll know they are still alive.

-Get excited about dirty diapers. The bigger the better and you call others over to see them.

-It is possible for babies to cry and/or scream while sleeping.
-After a while you learn to do a lot of things with only one hand and a baby in the other.
-It is amazing how quickly they grow and learn and of course they are a genius.
-You have never loved anything the way you love your little one.

He didn't hit himself... he feel asleep on his hand!

Nick slacking on the job.

Owen Lucas McCauley

It has been a long few weeks and I am sorry that I didn't get to this sooner, but here are some details of Owen's arrival.

Owen had decided that he didn't want to come when he was supposed to, so my doctor decided to go ahead and induce me at 41 weeks and 4 days.

Monday April 16th

Nick and I arrived at the hospital at 8pm for my induction.  I was 1cm dilated and the first step was to try Cervidil.  I got all set up with the medication and then tried to get some sleep to allow the medication to work overnight. 

Tuesday April 17th

The next morning I was dilated to only 2cm so the next step was to try Pitocin.  I got hooked up to the IV around 10am and got to sit around the hospital all day waiting.  The contractions didn't become strong enough by that night, so at around 9pm the doctor let us leave to go home to get some rest.

While on Pitocin the only thing I could eat were popsicles...yum!

Wednesday April 18th

Nick and I came back to the hospital at 10am to start the Pitocin again.  It was another long day of sitting around in our hospital room just waiting for my contractions to become stronger and more regular.  By that night, around 10pm, the contractions became pretty strong and I was dilated to 4cm.

Ready to give induction #2 a try!

Thursday April 19th

The contractions were getting pretty strong and at 1am the nurse gave me some painkillers, so I could try and get some rest.  She thought it might give me about an hour, but thankfully it knocked me out until 5am.  The doctor came back to check me at 6am and I was dilated to 6cm.  At 6:30 am the doctor decided to break my water to help move things along and that is exactly what it did. By 7am I was dilated to 8cm and asking for an epidural.  But because things were progressing so quickly, the anesthesiologist decided to use an Intrathecal instead.  This is a one time shot in the back and it works a lot quicker than the epidural, but will only last for a few hours. I got the Intrathecal around 8am and I LOVED IT! I couldn't feel anything from the stomach down and it was wonderful!  I got to take another nap and around 11:30am the Intrathecal began to wear off and I got ready to push.  At 12:30pm I started to push and little Owen was born at 1:37pm!

Owen Lucas McCauley

9lbs 11ounces*

21 1/2 inches

*When Owen was born, they told us that he weighed 8lbs 11ounces.  We all thought he was a big baby and were a little surprised that he was only 8lbs.  However the night that he was born, the nurses weighed him again and he was 9lbs 7 ounces.  Since babies lose weight after they are born, they knew the first weight they had given us was wrong.  They changed his birth weight to 9lbs 11ounces, which made me feel a little better!

We had to stay in the hospital until Saturday morning and then we got to take our little man home!

Taking our little monkey home!

Nick does such a wonderful job with Owen! Plus he changes more diapers than I do!

My mom came up from South Carolina to stay with us for the week after we brought Owen home.  And Nick was off school until Thursday.  On Tuesday, we took Owen to visit Nick and Geneseo High School track meet, while he was coaching.  He was such a hit that he made it onto their track blog.  Not even a week old and he was already famous and online (http://gcsdblogs.org/boystrack/)!  After taking my mom to the airport Friday morning, Owen and I had our first day to ourselves. It was full of a lot of napping for both of us, which was nice!

  

We heard so many people say this, but it is true that our lives have changed in an instant.  We have fallen in love with this little boy and are so blessed to be allowed to take care of something so precious and perfect.  He was worth the wait!!!!