Ryder Louis Larson has arrived!

It is with overwhelming joy that Eric and I share with you that our son arrived very unexpectedly in the wee hours of Monday morning.  At 2:58 AM our little 4 lb 11 oz (2168.2 grams), 18.5 inch (47 cm) angel was born.  Ryder came out breathing on his own and never needed a ventilator or incubation.  He did, however, have to go to the special care Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where he stayed until this afternoon (he already graduated to the regular NICU).  Superman, as I affectionately think of him, is "going to eat us out of house and home" as his nurse puts it.  He is eating great and is already up to 25 cc's of formula.  Eric and I must leave tomorrow evening, but we will be at the hospital very often to feed and care for Ryder.  Our prayer is that he comes home very, very soon.  Right now, all signs point to him coming home perhaps as early as this weekend.

You are likely wondering how this all happened... Eric and I are still in shock ourselves.  While I always suspected Ryder would like to make a slightly early entrance into this wonderful world, I did not expect a "33 weeker" as they have called him.  On Christmas Eve I thought I had a stomach bug and was having trouble eating.  I spent much of Christmas Day in bed with many "braxton hicks" or false contractions.  I had the practice contractions for much of my pregnancy, so I did not think much of the increase.  Sunday morning, while sitting at Flying Biscuit (restaurant), I had my first "real" contraction.  It was certainly a different experience.  We came home and tried to manage the random, infrequent pains with a bath, soft music and relaxation.  Unfortunately, the contractions were about 7 minutes apart by 2:00 PM.  We went to the hospital and they were able to stop my labor with fluids and terbutaline (a drug) and we were home by 8 PM.  By 9:30 PM I was already having regular contractions again.  We called the doctor and went back to the hospital with the full expectation that they would again stop the labor.  Unfortuantely, by the time we arrived, I was in a lot of pain and after getting to the labor and delivery room was 6 cm dialated!!  I will never forget Eric asking the nurse, "So, this means you can't stop it?!".  She quickly told us, "You are having this baby tonight."  After I tried to get myself together, completely in shock and terrified about having a baby this early, Eric and I put our labor classes to use.  Ryder came into this world with his grandmothers and greatgrandmother cheering him on and Dad doing everything to help me push.  My family and hospital labor teams, including an on-call doctor I had never met and a nurse who only had 2 months of experience, did an amazing job!  I do not know why we had Ryder early, but I know he is so perfect and we are looking forward to taking extra special care of God's precious gift to us.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  Here are a few pictures.  Many more to come!