Another Wargamer is Born... Please Welcome Alexander Rutins.

[Alex Fiedler]

Please join us in welcoming Alexander Rutins to our ranks. We are a little late in making this announcement but its been near to impossible to get some pictures of Alexander from Erik since his arrival home. Alexander Rutins was born on August 11, 2006 at 7 lbs. 2.2 oz., 19 inches long and is doing just fine. Erik and Patty are learning to survive on 2 - 3 hours sleep a night otherwise they are doing just fine as well.

[JSS]

Congrats Erik & Patty!  First month is the toughest, so it should get progressively easier for the next 12 years, 11 months[:D]

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: JSS Congrats Erik & Patty!  First month is the toughest, so it should get progressively easier for the next 12 years, 11 months[:D]

Yup, after that they're teenagers and everyone knows how easy they are [:D]

Congrats to both parents, enjoy every moment of it

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[CapnDarwin]

Congratulations!!!

Another Matrix gamer in the making!! [:D]

[Arjuna]

Way to go Erik and Patty ( and we know who put in most of the hard work ). May Alexander have a wonderful life. [:)]

[z1812]

Hi Eric,

Congratulations!! All the best to you and your family.

Regards John

[RevRick]

I pray that grace and peace wil be in all that you do, that your family may be blessed with love flowing from the fount of all love, and may it grow with each and every day, and that Alexander, as he grows, will know the security of his family, the freedom to explore his world, and the compassion to find his fulfillment in it.

Blessings upon all of you; Rev. Rick

[Erik Rutins]

Thank you everyone! A little explanation as to why this has taken so long to post is in order. First, everything is going fine now and we're up to more like 4-5 hours of sleep per night now. [8D]

Alexander Rutins was born at 5:00pm on August 11, 2006; he weighed 7 lbs, 2.2 oz and was 19 inches long. Now he's six weeks old and is growing well and eating like a maniac.

He had a bit of a rough start, though: on the way into the world, he got knocked out cold. The doctors revived him, but he continued to have a bit of trouble and was sent via helicopter to a hospital with a proper neonatal ICU where he could be better monitored and treated. The long and short of it is that due to a rapid descent, he had had some bleeding in the brain -- his head had to compress and uncompress faster than was good for him, which burst some blood vessels. This is apparently a freak occurrence and rare enough that our doctor had yet to see it in her career.

Luckily, infants have great powers of recovery because their brains are still developing even up to three months of age. So within a few days the blood had been broken down by his system and the healing had begun, with all tests coming back normal.

He spent almost two weeks there, with us staying nearby at a wonderful non-profit house specifically for the families of patients of the children's hospital; but what a relief it was to finally get him home. Of course, not having a nurse around to hand him off to for the 3:00 AM feeding took some adjustment, but so far, so good.

At this point, you'd never know that he had anything but a completely normal first couple of weeks. He's active and is certainly keeping us on our toes, and he's got the lungs of an opera singer (ouch! my ears! I'm tempted to upload a recording of him).

Anyway, since all parents (I now understand) can't resist, here's another picture. This is Alex defeating ninjas in his spare time...

[martxyz]

WOW!  Cute - but dangerous!!

He looks lovely. I hope you will all be able to relax now. Mind you; if you're expecting sleep - forget it!

Kind regards

Martin

[ericbabe]

Congratulations Erik and Patty!

[JeF]

Erik,

Congratulations to you and Patty.

This is an impressive start in life. Yeah, the 3:00 AM feeding is the worst. It used to be my shift. [:)]

All the best,

JeF.

[rcleslie]

What great news! Nothing like a bit of actuality amidst all the virtuals. The ninja picture is super.

[jvgfanatic]

I thought the lack of sleep was rough until my son hit his twos...now I know what a minor annoyance the lack of sleep was!

Cheers and congrats!

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

[ravinhood]

Congrats Erik, I'm sure you're a happy camper..."it's a BOY!" When my son was born I wasn't long out of the military so 4 or 5 hours sleep was the norm for me anyways. It was using that milk pump on myself I never could get the hang of. lol roflmao.

[soeren01]

Congratulations,

 and welcome to the club.

[MikeBrough]

ORIGINAL: JeF

Erik,

Congratulations to you and Patty.

This is an impressive start in life. Yeah, the 3:00 AM feeding is the worst. It used to be my shift. [:)]

All the best,

JeF.

Yes, congratulations to you both and best wishes for the future.

Of course, those 3 am feeds are a great chance to fit in a turn or two of your current game. Get a wipe-clean keyboard if you can.

[JAMiAM]

Congratulations Erik!

Glad to hear that the little guy is doing well.

[sprior]

Congrats to you both! Now the adventure begins...

[wodin]

Congrats Eric.

Ive a little girl myself (age 5). Wish I could have had more. Medical issues and money dictate otherwise though.

The love kids bring to you is mind bending.

Enjoy......