A Surprise Appearance

Happy Saturday everyone, or is it Sunday? This is Ryan writing for the first time. Over the past couple of months I have taken to reading a number of different blogs and so to make this more official…welcome to my first guest post. I would have rather Abbi wrote my introduction, however she is lying next to me dreaming of holding her newest born. I am staying up late, training for the triathlon of feeding, changing, and 26.2 minutes of soothing that make up infant parenting. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some pictures with you of our amazing new family member, and share a few thoughts from the day.

Our day started off a little different from the past couple. Abbi woke up and I was fully expecting to hear her say, “I slept terribly last night …the baby kept me up all night…why hasn’t he come out yet…can you believe LeBron gave up on Cleveland and went to Miami?” Okay maybe she didn’t say that last part, but a guy can dream that that would be part of his wife’s stream of consciousness right? But back to the day: Abbi rolled over to me (in between our oldest son’s screams for us to come get him out of his room…we gate him into his room…if you know him you understand why) and said she wasn’t feeling too hot. She said she was cramping a bit and felt a little nauseous, and that the baby hadn’t been moving a whole lot. I, being the calm and coolheaded one in our relationship, jumped from bed, cancelled my appointments for the day (sorry Jason, I promise I will help you with the swing set some day) and launched into a general state of panic. Abbi promptly responded by yelling at me that she was the only one that got to be nervous at which point I stuck my proverbial tail between my legs and calmly googled our hospital’s phone number…yes I was unprepared…no I wasn’t completely ready for the baby that was supposed to come on Wednesday…but LEBRON CHOSE MIAMI! Ok, not the real reason I wasn’t ready, but it sounds better than just procrastination. So post tail tucking, we gathered Abbi’s things (yes our pregnancy bag was ready to go) and headed off to the hospital.

After a number of NASCAR maneuvers that would have made Joe Gibbs recruit me on the spot to his driving team, we arrived at Edwards Hospital in Naperville. They quickly escorted us to a room where they hooked Abs up to a monitor. Before I had time to call our parents, hand our oldest off to his Grandma, get Abbi’s things from the car, and discuss the 2010 NBA Free Agency period with a male nurse, they were taking my wife into the OR to deliver our son into the world.

Sawyer Richard was born at 11:43 AM on July 10, 2010. He was born at 8 lbs 14 oz and was approximately 19.5 inches long. I wish I could tell you what the moments were like as they wheeled Abbi into the operating room and left me behind, but all I could think was “God please take care of my wife and son…” and he did just that. The next 30 minutes or so were a blur and I don’t have a lot of recollection of them, but what I can tell you is that having a child is like no other adrenaline rush you will ever feel. Our friends who have kids will understand this, but for those who don’t, wait until the time is right, but definitely do it! We are so excited to welcome the newest Eccleston into the world and thank all of you for your support and prayers over the last nine months.

We are so thankful for the gift that has been given to us today and we look forward to sharing him with all of you in the years to come. I added a few pictures below of our experiences and hope you can take even a small fraction of the joy from them that they are bringing us right now. We love you Sawyer!