The Newest Member of the Brucks Clan!

Ryken Christopher Brucks! Born March 2, 2012 at 3:38am. He weighed 6 lbs 6.5 oz and was 19 inches long!

The birth story of Ryken is we at our doctors appointment on Thursday afternoon and she checked to see how I was coming along. I was 100% effaced and 3-4 cm dilated. That was with me not thinking I had any contractions going on. We were at bible study till 10:00pm on Thursday night. I started having some stronger contractions after that, and at this point I knew they were contractions. About 12 am, March 2nd, we started timing the contractions and they were anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart. About after an hour, we called to tell the nurses that the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart for two hours, after an hour they were getting more intense. She told me to take a bath, which will decrease the contractions which mean it isn't the real thing or it will intensify them which will mean it is go time. Well I was in the bath for about an hour and about half way through they were really strong and just the most painful they have been. Toward the end of the bath I was getting an urge to push, which was hard to blow away. The last time we recorded a time for contractions was 2:42am which must have been when we called the nurse and they said we should come in, cause the urges to push were getting stronger and stronger...and I was giving in! We slowly went down 3 flights of stairs and got into the car. Thankfully the hospital was just about 5 minutes away. We got there right about 3:00am and we got wheeled up to the 6th floor, they got me into a room and I got into my hospital gown, and got in the labor bed. The nurses checked to see where I was at and she took one quick look and said oh boy, we are going to have a baby, if you can wait for the Dr. They then called the doctor and I laid there squeezing Chris' hand with each contraction and trying to blow the urges to push away. It took the doctor about 20 minutes to get there. Chris said she came running into our room finishing putting on her scrubs. They got me into pushing position. Broke my water (which felt pretty cool). I pushed 5 times between 2 contractions. His head came out and she told me to hang on if I could and not to push again, as she reached back to get the sucker, as she leaned back to get it, I couldn't help BUT push, so he came out, both shoulders at a time and she caught him with one hand. He made his way into the world at 3:38am. :) He cried within a second of coming out, Chris was right there holding one of my legs and saw it all. They put him on my chest right away and I loved him instantly. Chris cut the cord and saw him get weighed. I did tear twice, so the doctor spent more time stitching me up than delivering our son. It was fast and so amazing. So many women tell me how lucky I was....and then tell me how long they had to go with their first baby.

Ok, now for some pictures of our sweet little boy! 

 Daddy and Son

 First diaper change for Daddy!

 There's that sweet little face!

 Our room we got moved to!

 Gifts from Treasure Island

 Chris and Rebecca and their son due in May came to visit! :)

 All bundled up!

 His name tag in his bassinet!

 This is the labor room... nice and big!

The view from our room. We were on the 6th floor.

 Grandma Flin with her first grandchild, Ryken!

 Grandma and Grandpa Flin got to switch their flights and made it Friday evening!

 Yummy Breakfast 

 Wearing a little outfit from Steph! So cute!

 Time with Grandpa!

 Big yawn!

 Chris trying out the bed!

 Got to cuddle with my husband again! :) Looks like I dyed my hair in the hospital, trust me, I didn't!

 We left the hospital around 5:00pm on Saturday! He looks so small in there!

 All packed up!

 Daddy putting him in the car!

Ready to ROLL! :)

Thank you all for your prayers! They were answered in a quick and "easy" delivery! The presence of the Lord was truly there!

We love him and are so thankful for our gift from our Great God!