The Deuce is Loose!

We are thrilled to report that Santa brought us a late Christmas present in the form of William Reeves Poynter, who arrived at 2:18 this afternoon, weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring 20.4 inches. For those of you keeping score, that makes Will a wee bit longer and a wee bit bigger than Jack. Let the lifelong competition begin.

We arrived at the hospital at 6am this morning and settled in. I ended up getting two epidurals again (but no spinal headache this time!) and once again am totally in love with my anesthesiologist. They started the pitocin at about 11:45 and Will joined us at 2:18pm. Apparently what they say about second children is true. My doctor barely made it in time. He came out perfectly healthy, ate immediately and promptly fell asleep. If possible, he's even more relaxed than Jack.

The speed of the arrival also meant that our family didn't quite get to the hospital in time to see the baby before they had to take Will to the nursery for the three hours of tests that they have to run. Buster and Lulu brought Jack just as the baby was being wheeled out of the room. So Jack got a glimpse of the baby but hasn't gotten a chance to hold him yet. He seemed to be okay with the whole situation but that might be because the "baby" gave him two Thomas trains as a bribe, er, present.

We didn't have a name until late this evening because Billy was so sure the Deuce was a girl that we hadn't so much discussed boys' names. And we were lucky to have so many visitors that we didn't have much time to talk afterward either. Mimi and Pops, Aunt Kennon,


Uncle Peter,

the Dailey clan (including baby Caroline),


and Beth and Christian all came by.

Worn out by all the excitement, Will (and his father) are happily sleeping now...

Thanks to everyone for all of your good wishes, calls and emails!