Our Baby Boy Has Arrived!

Our baby boy was born in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, April 5th!

It all started when Meg’s water broke on Monday night as we were going to bed. We

called the hospital and they told us to come in the morning. Meg experienced mild contractions throughout the night and continued to labor all day Tuesday. Unfortunately, her labor just wasn’t progressing without assistance so at 8pm we decided to embrace the wonders of modern medicine (the combo punch of epidural and Pitocin) to help speed up the process. We got a few hours of much needed rest and were shocked when the midwife came in and said it was about time to push! After about thirty minutes, our baby was born at around 2am! What a blur! Everyone is healthy and Meg’s recovery is going well.

Our baby arrived at 39 weeks, 8.75lbs, 54cm, on April 5, 2023 in great health. We are extra grateful that Meg’s parents arrived the morning we checked into the hospital (the timing was wild), they have been a huge help!

We knew having a baby abroad would be an adventure, but we are thankful for the care we received throughout the process, even when the German hospital staff looked at us like we were crazy for asking to leave the hospital before the “recommended” three nights in the hospital. We just wanted to be at home together, so we pushed through all the checks (having to do some in German) and have been all cozied up for a few days as we adjust to parenthood. Fortunately, baby is thus far a decent sleeper and eater! We are thankful for our Easter present.

Name of Our Child!!

We based the name partially on (arguably) the greatest character in the best book or movie of all time. The Lord of the Rings. No, we aren’t going to name our kid Frodo or Gandalf. We are going to go with Sam. We really considered the name, Samwise, but it turns out that JRR Tolkien used a play on words in the Old English and Samwise literally translates as “half-wit” LOL. In good conscience we couldn’t do that to our child. So do we go with Sam? Samuel? Samwell? All good options but after thinking and praying we decided on the name Samson. Yes, the morally ambiguous, strong, and complex character in the Old Testament. Samson’s name is analogous to strength. Therefore we needed a middle name that would compliment and balance this (and give homage to Samwise). The middle name of our child will be Sage.

Samson = Strength

Sage = Wisdom

Samson Sage Harmon. Voilà! There you have it! We hope this little guy will embody the power of strength (whatever form that may be) and wisdom.

The Guchee's love initials acronyms. Meg’s name was Megan Elizabeth Guchee MEG - her initials formed a name (when she married Chase however, she became MEH..LOL again). We have joked that if Sam becomes a soccer player he can put his finger to his lips, silencing the crowd because his initials will be SSH!

Thank you Nicole Gehlbach-Wilson for the artwork!