Welcome Grady Webster!

Grady Webster Wilkinson was born on Thursday, April 8 at 1:16 pm. He was 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 21 inches long.

For those interested, here is the birth story: Grady was due on March 31, but he was sitting pretty and didn't really feel like making his entrance. I tried everything, from walks to eggplant to acupuncture, but with the little one not budging and my maternity leave time running, we decided to go for induction on April 8.

Matt and I arrived at the hospital at 7 and were told that they almost called us that morning to tell us not to come in because they were so full! Luckily (for them and for us!) that didn't happen. It took a while to get the IV in since my veins are "spindly" and "valvey" (neither highly complimentary I don't think). While we waited, the doctor broke my water and told us that I was 4 cm dilated. They finally got the IV in at 9:30 and started the pitocin drip.

I started having cramps pretty soon thereafter, but didn't really associate them with contractions and, I think because the monitor wasn't set up quite right, they weren't measuring as contractions either. Matt and I did a short walk around the birthing center and came back to the room just before 11:30. Pretty suddenly after that, the cramps became very intense and were finally labeled and monitored as contractions. They came very quickly without a lot of recovery time in between, but by the time the pain was getting pretty unmanageable, I was already 8 cm dilated. The doctor was called, and I started pushing just before 1. Grady was born about 15 or 20 minutes later. He entered this world with a scream and a huge gush of pee, so we knew right away at least one kidney was working!

Grady has been very well-mannered so far. He is a great eater - as of Monday, he had already gained back all but 2 ounces of his birth weight. We spend a lot of time just staring at him in disbelief, not quite believing he's ours.

My parents have been here since Friday and they have been a huge help - cooking all our meals and buying us things we didn't even realize we needed. They leave tomorrow, which will be an adjustment. Matt has been super helpful, doing almost all the diaper changes and spending lots of cuddle time with Grady.

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow - I'm guessing he'll be up over 8 pounds by then!