Baby Covey has Arrived!

I'm sorry Regis and I have fallen off the Internet grid for the past 48 hrs (Regis was never on the Internet grid anyway, remember?). We were in the hospital that apparently has an Internet shield surrounding the building, which is rather inconvenient when you want to share news quickly to people living thousands of miles away. However, we are happy to announce the arrival of our son at 12:55am on Oct 20th, 2011. We have FINALLY come to an agreement on a name, Ignatius. (We are still working on a middle name, so more to come on that) Baby Nate, as we are calling him, weighs in at 3.19 kg (7lbs) and 48 cm (19 in) long, a beautiful little guy with a full head of black hair. Post birth, he was struggling to breath and was sent straight to the NICU for observation. He was diagnosed with fluid in his lungs and they have been treating him with oxygen ever since. We are waiting for the fluid to exit the lungs and for his breathing to return to normal. This morning, as Nate was beginning to look tired, they put him on cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, which is helping him breath more oxygen. They continue to watch him in the NICU and we hope and pray that everything clears up in the next few days. 'Ignatius' is a name derived from Latin that means ardent or fiery.  We know that he is an ardent and fiery little guy that will fight through this and be home soon. Please keep him in your prayers for us!     

Mom and Dad are doing OK. Of course we are counting our blessing for a beautiful little boy, but a little stressed out by the inability to hold him and cuddle him yet and worried for his safety. We have checked out of the hospital and have returned home. It was hard to leave Nate there but we were happy to get home to Adrienne as well. Adrienne was able to peek at her brother through the NICU window, although I'm not sure how much she understands. She did point to my belly and say "Where?" as she has gotten used to patting and kissing it. She was a hit with all the nurses at the hospital, talking their ears off and showing them headstands. We will go back to the hospital to visit Nate during visiting hours and bring him much-needed milk for strength. We will do our best to keep you updated on everything going on on this end. Thanks to everyone for your messages and requests for pictures! We appreciated every message, even if we didn't get back to you right away.  

So, without further ado, here are some pictures of Ignatius. I did get to hold him for a little bit post birth, and I assure you that he is a very handsome guy.  Look at all that hair!