New dad Matt Ryan feels lucky after pregnancy complications

DULUTH, Ga. - Matt Ryan has no problem staring down angry linebackers, and he knows just what to do when the ball is in his hands with the game on the line. The Falcons quarterback, however, says lately he's been doing a lot of learning.

"Like any new parent, it's a battle to get them to eat and sleep and all those things," said Ryan. "They're both doing really well."

Ryan spoke Monday about he and his wife's Sarah's new twin boys. Ryan was at his 8th annual charity golf tournament, held at TPC Sugarloaf. The event raised money for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Matt Ryan Foundation.

On Sunday, Sarah Ryan posted on Instagram about the birth of their twin boys, Marshall and Johnny. She revealed that she was placed on hospital bed rest in January. Then after the twins were born on February 21, she wrote, both spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at Northside Hospital.

"We are endlessly thankful for their doctors and nurses in the NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] who gave them the most incredible care and will forever hold a special place in our hearts," wrote Sarah Ryan. "We are so grateful for our family and friends who we couldn’t have gotten through this journey without."

On the day Sarah was admitted to the hospital, Ryan was supposed to be on the practice field with the Falcons getting ready for the team's playoff game with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was at the team's Flowery Branch practice facility when he got a call.

"My wife had kind of a typical check-up, and the check-up didn't go the way you would've liked it to have gone," said Ryan.

The quarterback went to be with his wife and, at the time, did not publicly reveal the reason for missing practice. Ryan says he is still going to keep the specifics of the complications private.

Looking back on that time, he says his wife and the doctors and nurses did the hard work, but he remembers it being tough to return his focus to football.

"Anybody who's spent time in hospital on bed rest or in the NICU knows the emotions that go with it," said Ryan. "We're just so lucky and fortunate to have two really beautiful boys."

It's good news now -- Ryan says Sarah is happy and healthy, and both of their sons are at home, getting bigger and stronger every day.

"Just a big thank you to everybody at the hospital, all the doctors, both in the labor and delivery section, and also the NICU, because they do amazing things," said Ryan.