Thirty-six hours of epidural-free labor and she's got herself a kid! I'd say she should get some type of award for that. But for Danica McKellar, 3-month-old son Draco is the grand prize.
"If I had known it was going to be 36 hours, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do it," McKellar said of her extremely long labor and delivery. The actress, 35, who formerly starred in the hit series "The Wonder Years", gave birth to her son on Sept. 7.
"At the end I remember yelling, ‘Oh, come on!’ but besides that, I can’t remember what most of the labor was like!"
Every pang of childbirth was made worth it as soon as she met her son for the first time. "There was so much joy in the room and so much relief!” she gushed. “It was instant love. It was an amazing, amazing evening."
Now that the family, which includes Danica, Draco, and daddy Mike Verta, 38, is settled in at their LA home, they are getting used to life as a threesome. "Draco loves to listen to [his dad] play the piano,” McKellar said. “I’m like, you don’t know that every daddy can’t do this!"
And what's with the name? "Draco" is the Latin word for dragon and it's also a constellation. McKellar's husband Verta saw the moniker and immediately loved it. She explained: "He said, ‘Once we’re gone, the constellation will keep looking out for him.’ It makes me cry every time I hear it. So of course that made it a winner! I love it. It’s a cool, strong name."
It sounds like McKellar and Verta really lucked out with Draco. "He’s really good-natured,” the proud mama said. “He likes getting his diaper changed. He seems to really appreciate that! And he has a ravenous appetite. He eats every three hours and I’m exclusively breastfeeding. He’s just really sweet."
Danica, who is a working actress and smarty-pants author of a series of math books (the most recent of which is entitled "Hot X: Algebra Exposed"), has already lost 20 of the 40 pounds she gained during pregnancy.
"I would crave whatever somebody was talking about!” McKellar recalled with a laugh. "No matter what food it was. If somebody brought up lasagna, I would really want lasagna. Even liver and onions! It didn’t matter. All food sounded good. I was an omni-craver!"
