We arrived at the hospital at around 1:00 a.m., which was great because there was no one there but us and the nurses. They got us checked in, and instructed me to walk around to see if the contractions would start. Funny fact: My water also broke with Axel at 38-1/2 weeks. I never went into labor and had a C-Section. I had a feeling history was going to repeat itself. But we walked around the hospital and tried to get things going. But after a couple of hours, nothing had happened. The doctor on duty wanted to start inducing with Pitocin because of my GBS, to not waste too much time. Later on, I got an epidural, and we waited. I actually got to 8 cm but the baby's heartrate started to drop with each stronger contraction. So we pulled out for the C-section. I FOUGHT having a C-section with Axel. So much so, that my girlfriend, Natalie (who is a doctor) and who was there with Johan and me during the birth, had to convince me for my doctor that I needed to go under the knife. I finally ended up listening after 36 hours of stubbornly trying to go into labor. For this baby, I was like "do it, Doc". I didn't care by then. I just wanted what was best for the baby. He was born at around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 3rd. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz, and was 21.4 inches long.
When the baby was born, we sat with him for a while. We had had several names on our list for him, but hadn't decided on one in particular. We thought we'd name him when we saw him. The names on our list were Ivan Samuel, Magnus Leon, and Samuel Joseph. When we saw him, we thought he seemed like Ivan Samuel. He was the sweetest thing. So mild and easy. Slept and ate so soundly. But after the first day, we started to feel that perhaps Ivan wasn't right. When I tried to think of his name (Ivan), I couldn't remember it. Not a good sign. So we decided to sit on it for a couple of days.
After my C-section, the nurses said to wait 12 hours, then try to walk around slowly. The totally amazing part of my birth story, I believe, is that I was able to walk out of the hospital and go home the day after my C-section. I still took it easy, and had some pain, but I felt great, much better than I had with Axel, whose C-section took me about a week to recuperate from, and we had to stay three days in the hospital to recover. I think it's because I had kept in such good shape during my pregnancy. Thanks, Purenergy (my gym)!
It was so nice to come home and see Axel, and be together. Of course, life as usual resumed, and normal challenges began right away. But the best thing ever was seeing how much Axel loved holding his brother. Every day after school, he'd walk in the door and ask to hold baby Moose. He'd just sit there in the rocker and stare at him. He's a great big brother.
By about the Fourth day, we both talked about the baby name, and decided that Ivan didn't suit him. Johan actually really liked the name Ezra, which was my favorite boy name ever. However, it became apparent to me how important it was that this baby also have a Swedish name like Axel did. As much as I loved the name Ezra, I wanted the brothers to share in their Swedish heritage by both having a Swedish name. So we finally decided his name is Magnus Leon. Aka Moose. Our Swedish American Peruvian Canadian.
My mom arrived on Monday night, grabbed the baby, and immediately sat in the rocking chair with him and snuggled. She pretty much hasn't let us hold him since, she's a total baby snatcher. She loves sitting with him, and he loves sleeping on us and snuggling. He is such a joy. Pretty much everything he does reminds us of Axel. He eats like a total animal (he was back at his birth weight after just 3 days), and his favorite pasttimes are sleeping and pooping. Oh, and he loves to pee all over you and everything in the vicinity every single time you take his diaper off. So beware.
