hunter hadden

On Friday, September 20, we woke up long before the sun.  Harper's Mimi arrived at 5:30am to stay with her during our hospital stay, and so we kissed our sleeping girl goodbye and headed downtown to Beth Israel Hospital to meet our son. 

After waaaay too many attempts to start my IV,
I couldn't have been more ready to get to the operating room!

Time to have a baby!

Baby's first photo

At 9:07am, Hunter Hadden Wilson was born via scheduled c-section.  He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 20 inches long, with a perfect APGAR score--giving his daddy immediate bragging rights.  The sound of his cries as he entered the operating room brought tears to my eyes.  All of the months of waiting with cautious optimism gave way to the purest joy as our little family grew by one. It had been difficult to talk about our feelings and fears during the months of my pregnancy, but we remained faithful that our baby would be safe and would be able to come home with us.

Dallin was able to cut Hunter's umbilical cord and bring him over for me to see him.  Unlike Harper, Hunter did not need to be rushed to the NICU for additional attention.  This meant that Dallin was able to enjoy some quality time with our little man while the doctors and nurses got me all buttoned up.  I wasn't able to move (literally), but I got to watch my sweet boys get to know each other, which was enough for me.  

However, as with many babies who are delivered via c-section, Hunter had a little bit of extra fluid in his lungs so he spent a few hours in the nursery before he was able to join us in our room.  It was worth the wait.  We had yet to experience having one of our babies in the room with us.  With Harper, we had to travel up two floors to visit her in the NICU; it was absolutely amazing to have Hunter right there next to us all day and night, to love and snuggle and soothe.  It was really special to finally experience this type of hospital stay.

One day old

His eyes do open!

The Wilson boys

Nap time with my guy

Nap time with Daddy

Harper came to meet Hunter the next day, with her Mimi and Gramzy.  It seemed like Harper had grown leaps and bounds overnight, next to her tiny baby brother.  She had already learned how to say "baby Hunter," but she actually didn't seem that interested in him!  The hospital room was far more intriguing to her, but she did manage to get some cuddles in before she left.  

Harper meets her baby brother for the first time

Best moment ever

Gramzy meets her newest great grandchild:
92 years between them--and lots of love.

We were scheduled to be in the hospital until Tuesday, but it was hard for us to be away from Harper for so long so we decided to return home on Monday instead.  At the time, Hunter's weight had dropped down to 7 lbs. 4 oz. so the rounding doctor expressed a little bit of concern, but we agreed to have a visiting nurse see us after we were settled at home to make sure he started gaining.  We weren't that concerned, as my milk had only just started to come in, and Harper had been slow to gain as well--and is now a very healthy little girl.  So we packed up our things and headed home to big sister!

All bundled up and ready to go home!