Grayson's Arrival

Grayson Matthew Gallegly was born this morning at 6:45 AM, Feb 22, 2010 at Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula in Monterey, CA. He weighed in at 8 lbs and 1 ounce, and measured 21" long. He is as healthy as can be, and a little cranky from his busy morning.

Some more pictures of his arrival are posted here.

So far we have spent the rest of the day today at the hospital going through the usual post-birth routine tests. Grayson has had his first bath, and his full head of hair is looking quite dapper. He has also had his first couple of tiny meals.

Stefanie began experiencing contractions around midday on Saturday, and the contractions were increasing in frequency throughout the night Saturday and into Sunday. After they were coming every 4 minutes or so, we contacted the birth center at the hospital and they recommended we go ahead and come in to check things out. As was expected, everything was fine and they sent us back home to continue labor for a few more hours or days...

Then, about 7:30 PM on Sunday evening Stefanie got quite a splash when her water broke suddenly. Although only about 15% of women's water will break on its own in such a dramatic fashion, it was a welcome signal that it was in fact time to go the hospital for real.

We arrive at the hospital around 8:00 PM and settled into our room. As the water had broken, contractions started increasing pretty steadily for the next several hours. By 1 AM the anesthesiologist had arrived and administered the epidural, at which time we all got some rest as things continued to progress. After several more hours, the nurses decided it was time to call the doctor at 5 AM. He then arrived at 6:45 AM at which time Stefanie pushed through 2 1/2 contractions and Grayson was born! All in all, labor lasted about 11 hours.

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