Magnus Gray

Here he is! 

Magnus Leonard Gray Wilson arrived on Wednesday, March 4th at 6:59am. He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20.5" long.

As his official due date came and went with barely so much as a Braxton-Hicks, Sean and I went to our next doctor appointment hopeful that some progress would have been made. Unfortunately...not. So we went home and spent another potential last-night-before-baby, when at about midnight I noticed contractions getting a bit stronger and more frequent. We went to bed and woke up and they were still there, but stronger yet, so after a phone call to my doctor and my trusty aunt, and a shower and full blowout, we headed to the doctor.

Since I wasn't in terrible pain, they hooked me up to the monitor to determine how serious the contractions really were. Thank goodness we were there, because about ten minutes in, a contraction caused the baby's heart rate to dip from 150 to 40, and we were immediately rushed across the street to triage. Everything normalized and it was determined that the baby had what's technically called a "nuchal chord," where the umbilical is wrapped around the neck and tightens with each contraction. We were admitted around 1pm and settled in for the long haul.

Despite our trepidations about "interventions," we opted for Pitocin after several hours of contractions that weren't very productive. That kicked things into gear, but after several more hours of strong contractions that were a minute and a half long and only two minutes apart, I went for the epidural...now my very favorite cocktail in the whole wide world. It allowed me to rest a bit and to wait out several more hours of very slow progress. By 3am or so, back labor started, and only the third re-dose of the epidural finally dulled that pain. By 5:30am with dilation stalled at 7cm and the contractions hard and fast not giving the baby much of a break, our doctor recommended that we consider c-section. In all our planning, we never really thought seriously about it, but in the moment it was a no-brainer. We went in at 6:30am.

The c-section was an experience like no other. It was such a relief to have Sean beside me while not knowing what the heck was going on behind the blue curtain beyond the vague sensations of tugging and stretching and pressure and relief of pressure. I was also thankfully a little distracted by the doctor and nurses small talk, until, that is, we heard that tiny unmistakable wail.  

There are no bounds to the joy we've felt since Magnus came into our lives. He's such a funny and sweet and good natured baby. We're so lucky to be his parents, and he is so lucky to have the friends and family that he does. We can't wait for all of you to meet him in person, but until you do, here are some pictures and videos to tied you over. Click on the newest link on the right to see a slide show of Maggie's first week, and click here to see a video of him doing what he does best: cooing, staring at windows and sneezing.