Labor

I can't believe it's been just over a week since Ryan was born. We are loving every single minute with this sweet boy! Sometimes it's still hard to believe that he is finally here. We have wondered for the last 9 months what he would look like, sound like, and when he would come.

Last Tuesday night, I started having contractions at about 9:30pm. Those kept me up all night. Wednesday I went in to work to finish a HUGE project I have been working on for the last year. It just so happens that that was the day that all of the head honchos were going to be in my office so I could catch everyone up to speed and we could finally wrap this thing up. While I probably should have stayed home from work- given that I had already been in labor for 10 hours or so, I didn't. I warned everyone at work that we needed to be ridiculously productive because I didn't know how much time I had to work on this project. So, we worked and worked and got quite a lot accomplished. a lot, but not all. With contractions about 4-5 minutes apart for the past 2 hours, I knew I had to leave work before I couldn't drive anymore. I called Tim and he left work right away. We met at home and then headed to the hospital.

Luckily, we finished packing our things together the night before. After the contractions became consistent, we decided it was finally time to get that done! Way to be prepared, huh? In our defense, we had been so busy with so many things, this just kept getting pushed back on our list of things to do. SO glad we finally acted, because we were able to grab our stuff and go once we got home from work.

I was admitted me to the hospital around 1:30pm. After 27 hours of labor, and a lovely epidural later, Ryan Takeo Hahn finally entered the world- absolutely perfect! We were beyond excited (and exhausted) to have our son with us! As one of Tim's previous Seminary students said, our family was "upgraded". Ryan was due on my birthday (Oct. 30th), and was born 8 days early, on my Grandma's birthday (Oct. 22nd). We're sure Grandma Mary is looking down smiling at her great grandson who shares her birthday.

We loved all the visitors who made their way out in the middle of the night to keep us company. We know it was late & we were all tired, but we appreciate all the support we received by so many people.

We were so glad to get home from the hospital to our own home. Echo & Bandit are so good with Ryan. They sniffed him and then were pretty content from that point on. Bandit wasn't so fond of the crying at first, but has since adjusted. Echo likes to cuddle up next to Ryan in bed. Ryan has never cried when one of them barks or been startled when they are near. He seems fascinated with them and loves them like Tim & I do. Whoo-hoo!

We love our little Ryan. He is beautiful, smart, and strong. His middle name actually means "strong like bamboo" and I think he has taken it as a personal challenge. While we were at the hospital he could already lift his head and look around for a short period of time. He tries to hold things on his own, and often succeeds without help from Mom or Dad. He is such a joy. He amazes us every day. We can't believe we get to be his parents!