Dylan Patrick Dunn!!!

We welcomed Dylan Patrick Dunn to our world and our family on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 2:17 p.m. It was a beautiful San Francisco day and both of our entire families were in the waiting room to welcome this little boy. Dylan's birth story begins when we were told at our 40 week appointment that it would be "any day" and that I would most likely go into labor on my own. We waited and waited thinking any moment we would meet our little one. In the meantime, we went out to dinner every night, we watched all the latest movies and I made a daily routine of walking the San Francisco hills in hope of getting this little one on it's way. I had so many people tell me all the "old wives tales" of how to go into labor like, eat spicey food, drink a glass of wine, go exercise, and NOTHING worked. What I learned most in the last week of my pregnancy was patience. . . I learned that I clearly couldn't PLAN this labor or this delivery so I had to give that up. I learned that this baby was going to come into the world on their own terms and in their own way. All great lessons to learn right before becoming a Mom! Monday night at 6:00 p.m. we called into the hospital, as instructed, to see if we were on for our "schedule induction" and they said we'll see you at 7:30 p.m. So Ryan and I swung into action, we showered, we put our bags in the car and we got so excited to go to the hospital. We had a central chain of communication which was for my family Lizzie (Farrell house was central control) and Laura for Ryan's family. We couldn't believe this was really happening. We drove to the hospital with no radio on, just held each other's hands and kept saying, wow we'll be driving home with our baby! We were admitted to the hospital and got settled. Our friend Kim is a L & D nurse, she wasn't on that night but she called in to make sure we had excellent nurses ready for us.

They started the induction around 9:00 p.m. and by 3:00 a.m. I was in full labor with serious contractions. I thought I was having some labor pains at home but those were NOTHING compared to what I felt around 3:00 a.m. Ryan and I got up and took a walk around 4:30, he held my hand during the entire 3 hours of contractions. I knew that my doctor would be in early in the morning to get things moving so I figured if I could hold off on the epidural til then I would be in good shape. Well, by 6:00 a.m. I asked the nurse to bring her "friend" the epidural with her when she came in to check me. My water broke and I was on my way by 7:00 a.m. to meeting this little one. My doctor came in around 8:00 and was thrilled with my progress, I guess I just needed a jump start to get the labor to kick in. Our families all began showing up at the hospital and the excitement was mounting. By 11:00 a.m. I told Ryan he should go get something to eat as I know I would need his strength with the pushing. He and his Mom went down to Laurel Village to get a bite. In the meantime, my best friend, Megan walked in the door. She surprised me and flew up from San Diego to be with us on this exciting day. Megan had just given birth to a baby girl (Addison) in July so I knew it was extra special that she was there. By 11:30 a.m. the doctor came back in to check me and said, "you need to start pushing". Everyone jumped on their phones to get Ryan back to the hosptial!!! He made it in plenty of time and then the pushing began!

Ryan and our nurse, Liz, were amazing coaches through the whole labor. I couldn't have done it without them. Ryan kept holding my hand and telling me how great I was doing even when I didn't feel like I was making much progress. After 2 hours of pushing our little one arrived. . . Dylan Patrick Dunn. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz and 21 inches long. I was so surprised he was so big and just thrilled that he was so healthy. Ryan and I were immediately in awe and in love with this little boy. Ryan went down the hallway to share the good news and then the grandparents came in to meet him and then the aunties and uncles. It was an amazing feeling in the room when all these family members came in to meet Dylan. He is so loved and so blessed already. Enjoy a few pics of his amazing birth day.