Update with pictures from weeks 3-5

Our little family!  Cade looks so small because he was only 3 weeks old here.

Mama C came to visit and help out for a week!

Hayden finally getting to meet her only boy cousin! 

Austin and Cade.

Aunt Melissa finally got a chance to get close to Cade!  Austin and Hayden wanted to hold him the whole time!  They were so cute with him.

Grammy and her 3 grandkids.  I love this picture of Austin looking at Cade

Aunt Aimee and Uncle Aaron....babies look good on you :)

My parents with all their grandchildren.  This was a difficult picture to get!  

The Thurman family

Last weekend, some college girlfriends came in town to love on Cade.

Abbey & Cade

Abbey, Abbey's son (Mac), and Cade....he can't take his eyes off the ceiling!

Sweet friends

Mac "kissing" Cade

Sweet times with Meredith

We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family!

4 weeks

Cade lost all his hair in front.  He looks a little bit like an old man now!  I love these bright eyes.

3 weeks old

Cade is 3 weeks old today!  I can't believe it.  He is such a sweet little boy.  He is very alert and happy most of the time!  He is eating like a champ and gaining weight.  He has started cooing, and he loves making grunting noises.  Sometimes he is so noisy, he keeps mommy awake at night.  

Love this sweet face....I think he is starting to get some chunky cheeks.  

Cade's Visitors

We have been overwhelmed by all the support and love since Cade was born.  He has had lots of visitors, and he still has more to come!!  

"Aunt" Meredith

Our sweet neighbors, Sherry and John

Grammy

Papa

Aunt Aimee

Taylor and Laura- all the way from Utah!

Lots of cuddles from Grammy

Sleeping with Papa

Kathleen, Tyler and baby Jackson who is only 2 weeks older than Cade

McKinley

Kylie

The whole Winward family

One week old

I am a little late on this since Cade is almost 2 weeks old, but better late than never, right?  His newborn clothes are still swallowing him, but some fit better than others.  I can't wait to see what he weighs at his next doctor's appointment.  Here's the little man at one week old.  

Christmas with Cade

Our family on Christmas day.  Our sweet neighbors invited us over for a delicious Christmas lunch, and they took this picture of us at their house.

Cade got his first bath Christmas night.  What a cutie!!!

Grammy gave him a "My First Christmas" bib and wanted to take pictures in it.  

Grammy and Papa loving on Cade

It was such a fun Christmas with our new little Christmas bundle.

Cade's birth story

 We went to the hospital on December 19, 2012 at 7:30 to be induced.  I was already at 41 weeks, and the doctors did not think it was wise to go any further (and for that, I was grateful)!  Wednesday night, they started a medicine called Cervidil to start dilation.  My parents and my nephew, Austin, arrived that night at 11 pm so they would be here in time for the birth.  That night, we had a really scary episode where the monitor was no longer picking up Cade's heart rate.  The nurses rushed in the room and put me in different positions to see if they could find it.  They finally found it and told me not to lay on my right side any more.  Thursday morning, the nurse started the medication, Pitocin to increase my contractions.  My contractions were really strong from the beginning. I have never been so grateful for modern medicine as I was when I got my epidural.  Throughout the day, they kept increasing the pitocin, but Cade's heartrate kept decreasing with contractions.  We went back and forth where they would stop the pitocin for a couple hours, and then baby Cade would improve.  We did this cycle a couple times and around 7:30 pm, my doctor recommended that we do a c-section to keep Cade safe.  He didn't know why his heart rate was decreasing with contractions, but he did not feel like it was safe to continue to have a regular delivery.  

Feeling good after the epidural

Ready to go for c-section

We went for c-section at 8 o'clock and Cade William was born at 8:30pm.  His cord was wrapped around his neck twice which is what was probably causing his heart rate to decline with contractions.  Ben says the next 15-20 minutes were the scariest moments of his life.  Cade was blue and not very responsive.  His Apgar score at 1 minute was 2 (for all you medical people).  I really didn't know what was going on during this time because I couldn't see anything as I was still lying on the OR table, but I knew he had not cried at all.  I kept asking how much he weighed and when they told me they had not weighed him yet and I hadn't heard him cry, I knew something was awry.  I just kept praying that he was going to be okay and that I would hear him cry.  He was having difficulty breathing because he had swallowed some meconium and Ben says that his pulse ox was 70%.  They were about to take him to the NICU when his oxygen level finally increased and he started breathing better.  He weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long.  I got to see him for a brief moment before they took me to recovery.  I finally got to see my sweet little baby at 11 o'clock that night!  What a relief that he was fine.

A quick kiss before he has to go to the nursery

Proud daddy

Sweet baby in the nursery

Holding Cade for the first time and meeting cousin Austin

Meeting Grammy

Meeting Papa

Our new family of 3

We are so thankful for a healthy little boy!