Chad Nicholas is here!

November 4th
6:18 pm
6 pounds, 13 ounces
20.5 inches

This little guy REALLY did not want to come out.  The entire induction journey lasted almost 48 hours.  One of the doctors even asked if we wanted to just go home and re-schedule for a few days later.  (We stayed because it would have been really depressing to come home empty-handed, and because the hospital had really good sleeping pills to offer.  They gave us all the good drugs because we brought ginger cookies for them.)

Here are some pics from the past few days:

Some of the fun in Room #7 during the first induction attempt.  The nurse told us that the contraction monitor showed a funny pattern because we were laughing too hard and the machine couldn't tell the difference between contractions and laughter.  My guess is most women in labor don't cause this problem.

We went through a lot of nurse shifts. There was also a third doctor, but they erased his name when the next one started.

Fresh from his Apgar tests.  He got an 8/9. They really didn't give him a chance to study, so we're pretty happy with his grades :)  Also, please note the lack of a conehead.  The nurses called me a "tiny but strong" pusher but they didn't know that a strong motivator for pushing him out quickly was the reduced risk of a funny-shaped head.  They also said I was one of the most limber pregnant women they've seen.

In the standard hospital hat. He wasn't much of a fan.  But his head was a little too small for the hats we brought for him to wear. :(  Every time the nurses had to take him he would come back with a hat and a pacifier, and we would immediately free him of both.

A late night in room 4323.  Note the lack of a hat.  We wanted everyone who came in to appreciate his well-shaped head.

Hanging out before discharge.

Close-up of the cuteness.

Passed the car seat test so he's ready to roll!  This outfit will be cuter once his feet reach the little bears.  Until then we snagged some preemie-sized outfits for him to sport.

As soon as he got home he got to meet his cats:

Mariah checked him out but was unimpressed.

Fenway gave him a more thorough examination, but ultimately decided he isn't a threat.

The 20th (and cutest) baby to rock this cradle.  Chad is also "the first of the first of the first of the first of the first of the first."  That's a pretty impressive title for such a little guy.

We got home yesterday and everyone survived the first night!  Today we're going to teach Chad about football.  He can already signal a touchdown:

Touchdown!!

But he was pretty devastated when we told him the Panthers don't score too many of them.

A sad Chad :(

We chose Chad for his name because it's easy to spell, and it's not a made-up name and, but it isn't very common.  (I think it was ranked 501 in 2009.)  Also, there are no other Chads in our lives to confuse him with.  I actually wanted to make his formal name "Chadillac" but Andy said no.  It was already the front-runner when we went to my baby shower (well, only because Henry was shot down repeatedly) and then Mike randomly put it in the Baby Name Suggestion jug so we thought it was a sign.  (For those of you at the shower, this is the name that I wouldn't read.  I was afraid someone would be like, "Ew, I've always hated that name" and it would taint our decision.)  And Nicholas is just because we both thought it sounded good with Chad.  (I also thought it was an Italian name when I suggested it, but turns out it's actually Greek.  Oops!)