Homecoming!!!

Grandma Roundy is happy to see Everett at home too! She came a week early and helped me get everything ready. There is nothing like having your Mom to take care of everything.

Grandpa Cowan was instrumental in keeping Dominick and Kambree on schedule and happy at home. He was able to see and hold Everett several times and just before his discharge help Aaron give him a beautiful blessing

How many Cowans does it take to feed a baby?

Nothing like Chicago weather to welcome you to cold hard reality (this is looking at the glass as half full - not incorporating windchill!)

Big Brother is Happy!

Everett makes Kambree giggle with glee.

Well, Everett came home last night! He picked a heckuva night too. Chicago got dumped on (probably near 6 inches of snow) during rush hour making the roads a complete disaster. My dad was flying out and it took nearly 3.5 hours to go from the hospital to the airport (only a 24 mile drive).

We are happy to report, however, that we made it home safe and sound. It did require a diversion that saw both Kambree and Dominick peeing off the side of Lake Shore Drive at the steps of Soldier Field and Monica needing a stop over at the Grant Park Best Western to pump. That was extra special since the restroom plug wouldn't work she had to do her business in the lobby of the hotel with the help of one of Everett's blankets.

Dominick and Kambree have loved having Everett around. It is funny to see the different reactions of the kids. They are so excited to have him and frequently ask to hold him - after washing hands of course. Kambree is funny because she will hold him for 30 seconds, which includes non-stop kisses on the cheek and forehead, and abruptly end by stating, "Dad, I'm done."

Dominick is great with him too. He can hold Everett longer than Kambree and doesn't give him the spit baths that Kambree does. Dominick is less fond of Everett's lip. Dominick has told us multiple times that he wants Everett's lip fixed to look like his. He also asked if he was born with a lip like Everett. Monica had a great response. She told Dominick that he didn't have a lip like Everett, but that he was special too because he was born with webbed toes on both feet. As soon as Monica finished the sentence our precocious little Kambree eagerly asked what she was born with that made her special. My first response would have been her uncanny ability to force her family to live in a musical (she sings endlessly and many times the songs are simply based on her singing about everything she is looking at). Monica is less impulsive than me and a lot wiser so she told Kambree how her lip was connected to her gums.

It is amazing how we are all unique in some way, and I am not meaning in the way that those sarcastic faux-inspirational posters refer to it as "You are unique, just like everybody else!" We each do have something that sets us apart and it is a good thing too!

We continue to be helped so much by family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers! Thanks for all that you are doing.

Everett Watch - Day 3

Hi, again. We are glad to be on the blog again adding some updates. Thanks for all your comments, and again, thanks for all your support and prayers. Up to this point, all of the test results for Everett are coming back very positive. His cranial facial doctor wanted to begin taping his lip to get it positioned for a future surgery because he didn't feel that Everett would be in the hospital very long (maybe not even through the weekend!!!).

Everett is a little fighter and he screams a lot! It is cute now, but I am guessing it will get old on the first night when he shares that screaming talent every 1 to 2 hours through the night. In the NICU they are organized in rooms of 6 or so babies called pods. The nurses told us that Everett's cry could be heard two pods away. Given that volume, I am hoping that Dominick and Kambree continue to be heavy sleepers that can't hear anything. Otherwise, we might be having a lot of grumpy pajama parties at the Cowan house.

We are trying to learn how to feed Everett through a bottle. Because he doesn't have a hard palate on one side of his mouth it is hard for him to create suction. To get around that there is a special bottle that we use to either squirt in the liquid as Everett chews/tries to suck on the nipple or that Everett will get milk from on his own as he gets better at the chewing motion. Right now, his meal size every few hours is 38 cc. Last time we fed him he was able to get 23 cc on his own through the bottle. Whatever he doesn't do through the bottle he gets through his friend "Slimy". That's the name I've given his feeding tube that they thread down his throat straight into his stomach.

Dominick and Kambree are having a hard time with Monica being away at the hospital and the fact that they can't see there baby brother yet. They were both so excited for his birth and especially for the chance to hold him. We found out three days before the birth when Monica took a tour of the NICU that the kids wouldn't be able to visit at all. Even if they move him to the level 2 nursery (a step down from the NICU) the kids wouldn't be able to visit. So we are just trying to get Everett home instead because while mom may impose visitor hours dad will probably disobey those hours and the kids will for sure.

When I was taking the kids to the hospital to see Monica on the second day, after she had been moved out of recovery to her own bed, the kids were excited that they could see mom and hug her. Then they started saying that they were going to hold Everett. When I told them that Everett was still in a different-special room and that they wouldn't be able to see him yet, Kambree said, "Okay dad. You and Dominick will have to stay in mom's room, but I will go see Everett with mom." Classic Kambree. No one could tell her she's under 18. She's never acted one day since she was over 18 months like any age below 25! She's finding the hospital doesn't react as favorable to her princess mentality as her periodically overindulgent parents might do from time to time.

Monica is pressing me to go and see Everett right now, so I will conclude for now. Hopefully we will have some more good news for Everett Watch - Day 4.

Thanks again for thinking of us and for the outpouring of love and support. We couldn't do it with out you. It nice to get hugged with one arm from the East Coast and one arm from the West (Left) Coast and a strong bicep coming from Utah!

Monica and Aaron

More Pictures of Everett

Big Mouth, Just like his Dad!!!

Hey, look at me...I'm 7 minutes old!

Just some perspective on how small this little tike is.

He takes a pacifier, yipee!

Fresh out of the womb!

Please Welcome Our Newest Member

Well, after long last we are finally joined by our latest addition to the Cowan Family. Today at 9:54 AM Central Time, Everett (Middle Name TBD - we are accepting cash in exchange for naming rights) Cowan was born at the University of Chicago Medical Center ("UCMC").

In case you are not familiar with Chicago, UCMC is just a stone's throw from President-Elect Obama's Chicago residence. So, after a brief chat with Obama about his thoughts on the recent scandal involving Illinois' second governor in a row likely going to jail, I ran over to the hospital to lend moral support to Monica.

Luckily, we had Monica's mother Anne here with us. She played the saintly role of child tamer. It is a grueling and thankless job, but we are so grateful for her help! Keeping two kids entertained in an 8' x 10' waiting area with nothing but a few chairs and an incredibly dirty floor is rough stuff. Dominick was dead set on laying/playing on the floor and had the dust bunnies and hair on his shirt and pants to prove it.

I can see I am getting off on some tangents, but I did want to give a little flavor of the hectic day it has been. It started at 4:00 AM as we woke up and prepared for a 5 AM departure. After gliding through all but empty expressways we arrived at the hospital around 5:45 AM. By 7:15 AM we were back in the room and getting prepared for delivery. By 9:26 AM they made the first incision. At 9:52 they made the uterine incision and two minutes later we had our second baby boy! They cleaned off Everett and showed him to us. The little boy is a chip off the ol' block; and by that I mean he has a big mouth. He screamed bloody murder the whole time they were working on him. I am proud to say that he scored very well on his apgar score. He received a 9 on the 1 AND 5 minute tests (out of a possible 10 and 10's are relatively rare). Everett weighed in at 5 lbs. 14 oz. and is definitely a Cowan at a short height of 19.29 inches.

We are so glad that Everett is finally here. For those of you that have not been in on some of the last 9 months there have been a few bumps and surprises and we were really anxious to get him here safe. He is so beautiful and is a joy to look at. There is something about coming face to face with your own child for the first time. It is a special experience.

We want to express our thanks to all of you who have prayed so hard and whose thoughts and actions have buoyed us up through the challenges.

We are waiting to hear back on some tests, but at this point Everett looks to be doing extraordinarily well. What a blessing!