the hero is here!

our little gaber (gabriel: "hero of God"; "august" was amy's dad's middle name) was born at 10:52 pm last night, may 13. at 19 inches, 7 lbs. 9 oz. & tons of cuteness, he's doing amazingly well & hasn't hardly cried at all (except during his bath, just like a good boy).

amy's doing really well, too. she initially went into labor around midnight and after a couple walks through the neighborhood we headed to shawnee mission medical center at one in the afternoon. things went slowly it seemed, but amy seriously did really really well. there was no name calling or screaming or drama of any sort, despite how much i might have earned it. she went through the whole labor - 23 hours - totally natural, entirely free of pain medicine. i don't know that i've ever been more proud of anyone in my life!

so we invite you to share & multiply our joy and we look forward to letting you all love on gabe!

make sure to keep up with the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tyler.hilker/TheGaber