This is Miss Caroline's video debut...her first bath in the hospital! Please excuse all the random conversation in the background, and just focus on our sweet little newborn! :-)

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I am shy while I am in the bathtub.

A little time to myself.

Well, to quote the great poet of the 80's, Tiffany, "I Think We're Alone Now." We haven't put too much up in the last couple of days, because things around the house have been a little busy. Jen has been helping Caddy get use to her new house, Molly the pup is wondering what is this thing that yells all the time, and I am wondering "what did we do?".


First, let's start with the center of the McFamily world, Caddy. She has been home for about a full day now. Things are a little different than at the hospital. For one thing, at the hospital she'd leave at night and come back every two hours. (Sidebar - I know when she is 16, I will want her to stay home all the time.) Since she has been home, we have broken in the crib, the pack and play, had a bath, made a long night of crying and being hungry, and gotten to ride at the Six Flags of the McFamily - THE SWING!


We got to break in the new crib on the first day home. It is very nice. She really did enjoy sleeping in it. We even have a video monitor to watch her while she sleeps. (Another sidebar - why do we have to "invest" in elaborate bedding? I know it looks good, but I am just waiting on the first throw-up and wonder we payed how much for a spit up rail pad?)



We have even had a bath. Talk about an adventure. Trying to fit the baby bathtub in the sink and making sure she doesn't roll out or us hitting the bathtub rolling her around is enough to make Caddy go without a bath for a couple of days. During her bath time, we did get to use Uncle Tad's Johnson & Johnson products. It pays to have a relative who knows either Johnson or Johnson. I hear they are good people but a little old.



The nights have been interesting. When Caddy needs fed, Jen is up working with her. When it is crying time, Dad is right there. Last ngith was a great example. Caddy started crying around 1 a.m. Feeding time was not until 2 a.m. So, I am up with her. Good thing for American Chopper and Ace of Cakes on the DVR. (Sidebar again for dads - GET A DVR! It is the greatest thing ever. It will pay for itself on those long nights.)



This is all for now. We will post more, but Caddy is having lunch and I am going to try to get a little sleep while she has some home brew. Plus it is Cubs/Cards on tv today. Have to watch that. Until our next post, here are a few pics.

Just relaxing before I go home.

Mom and Caddy one last day in the hospital.

One of our favorite pictures.

Rollin' with mom and dad to the house.

Since Jennifer has her hands full, I am going to fill everybody in on how Caroline Addison, or Caddy to her dad, arrived in this world. We got to the hospital around 6 a.m. After signing her life away and any future savings we might have, Jen was taken to the L/D room. By the time she got settled, it was 6:45 a.m. Nothing had really happened in the week since we went to the Dr, 2 cm and 80%.

Her Dr. came in around 7:15 a.m. and broke the water and the flooding of the towels began. The contractions began right after that. The contractions got worse and worse. At one point, Jen was telling the nurses that she was sorry for being so loud. Sidebar - God Bless those nurses. They made everything wonderful. We couldn't have asked for a better group of people to help bring Caddy into this world.

With the pain increasing, Jen got some IV pain meds around 9:15 a.m. That didn't help. However, I have seen Jen in that state before and have pictures of her on my phone. After about an hour of the contractions getting worse and pain meds not working, Dr. Joe and the fighting epidurals came a calling. The only problem with not getting the epidural earlier was Jen didn't have enough fluid from her IV. That didn't take too long to correct. As a spouse of a woman who had an epidural, I believe in them. My hands couldn't take much more of Jen's grip. I thought I would enter with 10 fingers and come out with two missing thumbs.

With an epideral at 10:15, the pain was tolerable and the contractions picked up. Around 11 a.m., the nurse made a quote I will never forget. Nurse Sharon checked Jen and said, "Let me go get a 2nd opinion, I think you are ready to push." After a 2nd opinion, the room was changed from a regular hospital room to a hang on to your handrails birthing center. The room was full of nurses. At one point, we had four nurses in the room helping out. A couple of more nurses came in and I told them the more the better.

At 11:06 a.m., the first contraction was recorded with pushing. An in the spirit of the Olympics, "Let the Games Begin!" The Dr. came in around 11:15 a.m. ready to catch the Caddy. (Sidebar - if you are following the timeline, it is 4 hours.) During the pushing stage, the nurses said that Caddy had a lot of hair. Now, I wasn't going to look, but I went to look and she had more hair than me. I am a firm believer that heartburn is associated with the hair.

Finally, at 11:24 a.m., Caroline Addison was born. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came out and went straight to Momma. A little time with mom talking about what purse goes well with a one piece babysuit, it was off to the scales. She was 6 lbs. and 11 ozs and 20 3/4 inches. Then the family showed up. There were a lot of relatives saying hi to our new girl.

Jen will catch everybody up on what else has taken place, but since I had a birds-eye view of what happened, I get to write the post. I am including a couple of pics from today and yesterday for everybody. Enjoy!

For God sake mom and dad, put some clothes on me.

Mom and Caddy after her first picture. Notice the new outfit.

It was a busy first day and Caddy was tired.

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