Lessons Learned...

   Hello again everyone!  It is a great Sunday here at the Lowe's, just hanging out and getting ready to watch football.  Everything has been going great, Cade is more alert every day, and stays awake longer and longer between feedings...awesome during the day, maybe a little less than awesome at 2:30 AM :)  That's OK though, we love it when he is alert and looking around.

Last week I had to travel for the first time since Cade was born, it was so much harder than I ever imagined.  I was only gone for 2 days, 1 night, but it was crazy how much I missed him!  I made Jess send constant pictures and updates of his day.  Tomorrow morning I head to Tampa for a couple days, so I will be missing my man again.  Jess does great without me though, she is a great Mom.

We have learned a few lessons in Cade's first 2 1/2 weeks of life, and have some funny memories of how we learned them.

1.  When changing young Cade, you better be fast.  You can use your imagination as to why, but suffice to say, we have had to give him some extra baths, change some sheets, and wipe off our faces too!

2.  When you think Cade is making a messy diaper, make SURE he is done before you begin the changing!  It seems that wiping his little rear end sometimes causes a little more messiness :)  That can get pretty ugly pretty quickly

3.  Use a bib!  Little man gets so hungry some times he chows down with reckless abandon...and then drools out what he can't swallow fast enough...all over his clothes...and yours.

4.  Make sure the burp cloth is properly positioned for burping.  As little man eats his food so quickly, sometimes it likes to come on back out just as fast!  If the burp cloth is not in the right spot, you will be a bit of a mess afterwards. 

5.  Baby Gas-X is worth 10x what is costs.

6.  Swaddling - not all babies like it apparently.  Cade HATES to be swaddled, take a look at his sleeping pictures, he wants his arms free and if you don't free them, he will "ask" you to do so until you comply.

There are many, many more, but those are top of mind for now!

Well, off to spend time with my man the rest of the afternoon and some football.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade

Picture Blog

Hello again everyone!  Things are still going great with the Lowe's.  We are settling into a routine (sort of) and figuring out some of Cade's quirks and personality...yep, he already has a little personality.  I am headed back to work full time this week, so it will be a little different for Jess.  She is just doing better and better though, I have no doubt she will be just fine.

I also have to go out of town for the first time later this week, but we have tons of help around, so it should not be a big deal except for the fact that I will miss him so much!

Not a ton to say this time, just a bunch of pictures by request.

PS - Gibbons is 2-0 since Cade has been born :)

Bye Bye Bili

Happy one week birthday Cade!  As a present, we got great news, we can say bye bye to the bili-blanket!  Cade just got his heel pricked for the last time (at least for this), and the levels were down even without the blanket the past 24 hours so we are officially done with it.  What a huge relief, it feels like a giant weight has been lifted.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been thinking of him and praying for him.  Now we can figure out a normal routine...as normal as a routine is with a baby that is :)

Cade changes every day, it is really crazy.  He hardly looks like the same little guy I met that morning one week ago.  His eyes are open wide, he is strong as can be and no fan of you holding his legs still to change a diaper.  He loves to snuggle with his Mom and Dad, and his Aunt and Grandparents too.

Cade will watch his first Ole Miss basketball game tonight...Daddy will have to keep it in check while cheering for his alma mater so as not to disturb the little one.  It will be tough, but I think I can handle it...as long as they play well ;)  Let's all hope it goes better than the Saints game last week...Cade and I are both still angry over Lynch's lucky TD run.

I am going to go back to my first practice tonight, and game tomorrow, it will be great to see the team again.  I know Jess is looking forward to getting back and coaching as soon as she can, she misses it a ton.  Ali has done an incredible job though, so the team hasn't skipped a beat.

Well, off to feed the little man, thanks again to everyone for all the support for Cade, he can't wait to meet everyone.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade

Home Sweet Home!

That phrase, while over used and under appreciated, has never held so much meaning as it does right now for Jess and I.  It has been a long, frustrating, scary week; and by far the best week of our lives.  After lots of highs and a couple not-so-highs, we are home.  We had more checks this morning for bilirubin levels and they only crept up a tiny bit.  However, in the interest of being over cautious, we went ahead and brought him home with a bili-blanket.

On that note, a HUGE thank you to Chad and Kaye.  It is a long story, but we would not be at home right now without the extra things they did to help get us a blanket when none were to be found.  I foresee Dos Taquitos and Gold Margaritas in their future.

Cade loved his first car ride, slept like a...well, a baby.

Now, it is on to living.  We are so blessed to have this perfect little boy in our lives.  We can't wait to watch him grow, hear his first words, see his first jump shot :)





We will have a few appointments this week, hopefully we are done with the blanket by the weekend.  Either way, we are just so happy so have him home, healthy, and happy.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade

Not Home Yet....

Well, we are all still at Rex.  But, Jess has been discharged, she is doing great.  Mr. Cade is doing great aside from his bilirubin levels, and he is even beating those like Jacksonville State beat Ole Miss.  They crept up to 18.1, then using the double photo-therapy, they went down to 17.6, then to 16.3, then to 13.4 this morning.  We thought we were in the clear at that point, 15 is the Mendoza line so to speak for infant jaundice.  However, when you take away one of the photo sources, there is a little bounce back up to higher levels.  So we took away the overhead lamp this morning around 10:00, and he just got his blood drawn for another check.  This one will be with him only on the bili-blanket, so the level will likely be higher, but hopefully it is not too high.

We want his liver to keep "learning" how to break down all the extra red blood cells.  Each time we take a "helping" source away, he has to learn to work harder to make up the difference.  Think about it like this: You are being pushed in a wheel chair, hardly doing any work yourself.  You are going 20 mph, and that is good.  The person pushing stops helping so much, maybe only giving half the effort as before...so now you obviously slow down while you figure out how to do more of the work yourself, but you do learn and get back to going the normal speed.  Well, the guy pushing the wheel chair is like the bili-lights, and Cade's liver is like the guy in the wheel chair.  So we expect a slight rise in levels with these results, but not too high...we don't want the wheel chair to come to almost a stand still.

So here we are, in a new room (smaller by the way) with the same lovely pull our chair for Dad to sleep in.  We are hoping and praying that Cade can keep working and his levels drop back down late tonight and early tomorrow morning.  Then, we will take the bili-blanket off too, and let him figure out how to do it all on his own.  If all that happens, we can go home late tomorrow afternoon.  If he needs a little more time to figure it all out, which is fine, then we may be here again tomorrow night.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, as usual, I will keep you update via this blog.

Love,

Time, Jess, and Cade

Tanning Bed

OK, we have a slight change of plans for today, little Cade has a bit of jaundice so he needs some time in the tanning bed to work it all out. 
He is doing great though, heart is great, lungs are great, he just needs to knock that bilirubin down a bit so he can go home.  We are hoping for tomorrow, maybe the next day.

On a separate note, Cade did in fact get his Saints gear for the game.  However, the way they played made us both sick...seriously, I was sick (figuratively) and at the midnight feeding, after he had time to fully digest the game, Cade was sick literally and puked on his dad.  I don't blame him though, it was awful.  On a positive note, he locked like a little stud in his Saints gear!

That is it for today, hopefully I will have a good post about our trip home tomorrow night.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade

Poo Dat

Hello again!  Night two was much better than night one...Cade actually slept for a few hours at a time, and his Mom and I were thankful.  Everything continues to go well for little Cade, he is sleeping, eating, pooping and peeing a lot...especially the pooping and peeing.  I am a whiz at diaper changing, I issue an open challenge to all those who think they can match my speed and efficiency :)

Today is a big day for Cade, his first Saints game!  We will be watching, hopefully, those sweet, sweet Saints beat the Seahawks in the Wild Card round at 4:30 EST.  He has an awesome Saints outfit that I hope makes it here in time to wear for the game. 








Jess is catching up on some sleep which is great.  She is feeling pretty good considering she had major abdominal surgery a few days ago, she never ceases to amaze me.

Cade is opening his eyes more now when he is awake.  It is really amazing to see.  His little left eye seems droopy a tiny bit, he has some eye booger issues :)  He has passed all his hearing screenings and is super alert to lights and sounds, he is just the greatest thing since sliced bread!

We have had a lot of visitors so far, and we truly appreciate every one of them.  The basketball girls came, they were in love with him the instant they saw him, but hey, who could blame them?  Kirsten, Dean, Charlie, and Wessie also came by to say hello.  The girls are fantastic with Cade, they will make excellent baby sitters one day.  Dean got him a sweet Harley outfit I can't wait to put him in too. 

Aunt Ali has been the bomb.com, coming up to see her nephew every day and really helping us out.  Same goes for Grandma and Grandpa, who have actually maybe taken even more pics than I have!  I know Cade loves all his his family and is looking forward to meeting the rest of them.

All signs point to going home tomorrow, we can't wait.  Everyone at Rex is fantastic, but we are ready to get home and settle into our new lives.  We have an awesome going home outfit for Cade, we will update the blog with pics and maybe video (if I can figure out how) for all to see.  HINT: It may have something to do with Ole Miss - which in hindsight seems like an awful thing to do to an innocent child.  Make him grow up a fan of NC State and Ole Miss, he is in for a lifetime of "almost" in his sports career :)

Well folks, Dad needs a shower before we get more visitors today, I am sure they would all agree.  So we are signing off for now, but will update again soon.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade  -  WHO DAT!!!

Welcome Cade!

Hello family and friends, today was the best day of our lives.  Jess and I proudly welcomed Jacob Cade Alan Lowe into the world!  Now, Cade was in no rush to join us though...here are the events leading up to his arrival.

On Monday, January 3rd, Jess gets the word from the doctors that they are going to induce the next night, Cade is ready and the time is now!  This is very exciting news obviously.  We get home pack all the bags, have our "last supper" as a couple and can't stop talking about how excited we are to meet our man.  All that is left to do is wait for the call Tuesday around 7:00 pm to let us know when to come in.  So we do...and we wait....and wait.....and wait...and finally we get a call around 11:30 pm that there is no room at the inn so to speak - Rex has a packed house and we will hear from them in the morning and come in then. 

At 5:30 am on Tuesday morning, we get the call; be at the hospital at 6:30 to begin the process.  By 7:00, Jess is in the room, with an IV of saline and one of potasin, we are rocking and rolling.  Or so we thought.  Cade is not making a move and Jess is not moving along too quickly.  Around 3:00 PM that day, they decide to go ahead and break Jess's water...it didn't look like it felt great :)  However, this is good right?  Things will speed up, we will see cade by night's end!!  Or not.  They up the potasin levels of things start moving...painfully.  Jess is an absolute rock star though, dealing with the contractions and pain like a champ.  I have never been so proud of her, it was amazing.  But proud does not equal your wife progressing through labor easily. 

However, after about 1 total hour of sleep, around 6:50 am on Wednesday, we get to 9 cm...only one more to go before she can start the "final push"!!  Awesome, Cade is around the corner. 

2 hours later...

9 cm.  Well crap.  By this point, I am barley able to contain my frustration, not at anyone in particular, but that I am looking at my wife in so much pain and am utterly helpless.  It is one of the worst feelings I have ever had.  The doc comes in and gives the word, c-section is a good option at this point.  It will be safer for everyone than continuing to try and continue on the current path.

So a little while later they wheel Jess down, I get in some scrubs, and get called in.  Then, 5 minutes later, at 9:59 AM on Thursday, January 6th, our worlds changed forever, and they changed for the better.  The medical folks took Cade in the other room to get him cleaned up and out, and then let me go in. 

Words could never do justice to what I felt at that moment.  When I was able to hold him, and take him in to say his awesome Mom, it is something that can never be duplicated.

Now, a few hours and few hundred (yes, few hundred) pictures later, we are still in awe.  He is the most amazing creation, and we thank God so much for blessing us with a healthy baby, and a healthy mom.

We miss all our family and friends that we don’t get to see often, Jess and I both will try to keep this blog updated with the happenings of Cade's life, with plenty of pics.  We love you all.

Love,

Tim, Jess, and Cade