Baby Ryder

My friends just had their first baby (a boy) on March 23rd. Today I got an email from the dad on their son's delivery. It is such a well written and inspiring story...that I thought I would share. I hope it is as wonderful to others as it was to me....maybe you have to know Ryder's parents to really understand.

Just a quick snapshot of the parents. They are the kind of couple that people stop to look at when they walk in the room. They are both gorgeous and have this amazing energy around them. Ryder's mom is petite with a perfect body, long wavy blonde hair, a warm heart, very smart, great sense of humor and a loud & contagious laugh. Ryder's dad is around 6'5", blonde hair that looks like he belongs on a surf board than a court room, well dressed, funny, smart-ass and very handsome. I have never heard either say a bad word about anyone and they always have a good time. Anyway....this story made me smile and tear up. Enjoy.

For the record, just so you all know, here's how it went down: Richele drank castor oil for lunch on March 23rd after having tried every other method, known and unknown, to induce labor. I went to the club after work to play some racquetball and got home around 8. We put a movie in and at exactly 10:30 starting timing the contractions that were about 4 minutes apart and didn't seem to be stopping. I just figured that's what happens when you drink four ounces of castor oil, and didn't really think too much of it until 11:30 when the contractions were now approximately two minutes apart and definitely weren't stopping. I grabbed our bags, put them in the car, looked around for the keys for the next ten minutes, walked Richele out our icy back steps and we took off for the hospital. (Rich, I only blew one red light and didn't get pulled over I'm sorry to say) We got to the hospital around 11:45 and I filled out some paperwork while Richele was doubled-over in pain. They finally brought a wheelchair and pushed her down the hall to labor/delivery room #3. They told us the anesthesiologist would be in shortly, so I put on some Foo Fighters, got Richele some "ice chips" (apparently what hospitals call ice cubes), and proceeded to endure some fingernails-digging-into-my-arms pain of my own for the next half hour. Around 12:30, the nurse came back in and told us the anesthesiologist had been called to an emergency c-section for twins, and would be unavailable for an hour. The nurse hooked Richele up with a fentanyl IV drip that stopped some of the pain, but definitely not all. At this point, Richele was about 5 cm dilated and in more pain than any human should ever be in. She finally got the epidural around 1:30 or 2, and at that moment I wished the guy who invented the epidural was around so I could shake his hand. Richele went to "sleep" for a little while after that, and things seemed to be progressing nicely. When the sun started coming up, Richele was dilated to around 6 cm and the doctors thought that ryder might be sideways or something, so they put some probes directly into his head and gave Richele some pitocin to help create stronger contractions. I think it was around this time that Richele and I counted no less than six tubes/probes/needles/catheters coming out of her body, not to mention the oxygen mask and periodic blood draws during the entire ordeal. Of course,> we figured this was either perfectly normal...or they just knew I was an attorney. Around 9:30, they said we could either wait to see if she would continue dilating or could go in for surgery. Since Ryder's and Richele's heart rates and blood pressure were dropping during and after every contraction, we decided the best thing to do was to get him out as quickly as possible and not risk the health of either of them. At about 10:00, they prepped her for surgery and put me in a one-piece suit (that was far too short in the torso and gave me a wicked camel-toe). At 10:10 we were in the operating room, I was right next to Richele's head, with my hair net and face mask on, and the surgeon called out the time of the incision. At 10:12, I head them say, "there's his head," and I peeked around the surgical tent and saw Ryder's head - the most surreal, amazing, and beautiful thing I've ever seen. They pulled him out, cut the cord, wiped him off, wrapped him up, put a hat on him, and handed him to me. I laid him down on Richele's chest and the three of us just stared for the next ten minutes. Dr. Shultze and Dr. Grah are two amazing surgeons who did a fantastic job. In fact, other doctors in the hospital were coming in to see their work because apparently it was one of the better procedures ever done. There were no stitches or anything showing - just a tiny line with some antiseptic ointment on it. Pretty amazing really. Then they wheeled us into the recovery room and Ryder started eating right away. At this point, I probably should have started calling everyone, but c'mon... Richele had to wait until around 5:00 before she got into her own room (oddly, it was a very busy day and all the doctors kept asking what was going on in Denver 9 months ago to bring in so many babies all of a sudden). Mr. and Mama O. got in Thursday night with Nene and Jade and we all went back to the hospital first thing Friday morning. Normally, patients are required to stay at least three days after surgery, but since we're talking about Richele, and not a normal patient, we all came home on Saturday afternoon and things have been great since. She's healing nicely and has been running up and down the stairs, picking up Jade (bad Richele), breastfeeding, showering, and laughing a lot. Ryder and I watched some great basketball games on Saturday and Sunday - he seems to be a big George Mason fan for some reason. I got into work around 10 today, and things seem a little different here. All the screaming and yelling and complaining and whining and bitching and crying that I deal with on a daily basis all seems like it's a bit more distant today. Priorities have changed. I actually have a smile on my face. I'm in my office and I'm smiling. This kid has already changed my life. I can't stop looking at his picture! Can't wait for all of you to meet him in person. See you soon.