Boy were we in for a surprise! Thursday, August 20th, was the first day of school. I had a wonderful day, but still had some loose ends to tie up to get ready for my maternity leave, so I planned on staying a while after school. At the end of the day, Kathy, one of the teachers at school, was talking in the hall with Janelle and someone else when I walked up. Kathy told me she thought I had dropped, and I told her I couldn't tell. Then, I went back to room to work. I ended up leaving school around 5:45. I was tired and ready for home. I went home and started cooking dinner. At 6:00, my stomach started bothering me. I thought I had gas pains, but when I sat down and paid attention to what was going on, I realized I was having contractions. I didn't say anything to Ryan, but I finished packing my things for the hospital and went and got on the computer to make Ryan his list of people to call and text when Cash did arrive. When I was all done, I laid down on the love seat. I was watching how often my contractions were coming and they were anywhere from 9-15 minutes, but irregular. I figured they'd go away. Later on in the evening, I told Ryan I was having contractions, but they were irregular. At 10, we went to bed. I didn't sleep worth a lick. I was up everytime I had a contraction. Finally, at 1:30, I got up and called the hospital to find out if I did indeed need to come in. The nurse told me to take a Tylenol PM and that would help me sleep and if I was in actual labor, it would regulate the contractions. Later on in the night, they regulated. They were at 9 minutes for a while, then 8. The next thing I knew, they were at 5. I wanted to make really sure they were, so I laid in bed from 5:40-6:00 timing them. I finally convinced myself that I wasn't making this up and they were. My alarm went off at 6:00 and I told Ryan that I thought we needed to go to the hospital. His response, "Can I take a shower?" Of course, I gave him a hard time, but told him to hurry. Then, he still had to get his things together. We ended up making it to the hospital around 6:40-6:45. They checked me into the triage room to check me out. I was only dialated to a 1, but when she was done checking me, a gush of something came out. I thought my water had broke, so, she checked me again. She couldn't tell if it had or not, but I was bleeding, so she sent in someone else to see if they could tell. When that lady came in, she couldn't tell either, but I was at a 3. I was going to be having a baby they told me. I was in my hospital room by 7:30. My nurse came in to draw blood and hook me up to an IV. SHe told me it would be an hour before I could get an epidural because we had to wait on lab results and I had to get the bag of fluid in me first. The contractions kept coming and they were getting worse. Finally, at 10:30, I got my epidural. That was a painful in and of itself. The dr. had to do it twice! When she was all done, the delivery doctor (Dr. Nolla) came in to check me and I was at a 7! She said my water had not broke, so she broke it for me. The epidural kicked in and was feeling no pain! It got to the point where I couldn't even lift my legs, so they had to turn off the epidural around 12:30. All the parents were in my room once the epidural kicked in, around 10:45. I had a room full! Mom, dad, Janice, Taylor, Jeanette, Doug, Art, Roxanne, Tony, and Ryan. The cameras were going! It definately made the time go by fast. Around 12:45, everyone was getting hungry, so they all headed to the cafeteria. Mom was still there, but the nurse came in and asked her to stand in the hall b/c she was going to check me. Cash's heartbeat was going down for the past 2 contractions. When she checked me, she saw Cash's head. She went and told mom to go to the waiting room and then started prepping me. At 1:00, I started pushing. Cash was born at 1:09pm on Friday, August 21st. I couldn't believe he was here and how easy it was. Ryan cut the imbilical cord and they washed Cash all up. About 1:20, Ryan went out into the waiting room to inform everyone that our precious little boy was here. No one could believe it. They just left!! Cash weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. He was just perfect! He looks just like his daddy, with my nose.
I had to include this pic, because this is where Ryan sat for each of my contractions with his computer, playing Mafia Wars and poker!
The waiting room
Cash's first picture
The proud family. (I wish they would have had me pull my hair back again first!)
Ryan, the proud dad! Can you believe it?
Afterwards, it was time to open presents. Taylor so nicely wrote down all my gifts for me, in between texting! (Thank you Megan for getting a picture of that!) (Megan, Taylor's friend used my camera today to be my photographer since I told mom she was not allowed to be my photographer anymore. Thank you Megan! The pics turned out great!) 
Mom got me my baskets that match the bedding in Cash's room, the other roller shade, a carseat protector, and a poem that I need to frame entitled Mother's Heart. I am also to write Cash a letter, from his Mother's Heart and save for the future to keep as a keepsake.
As the shower was going on, Janice kept telling me that she really hoped it was a boy because I am going to have an awful lot of stuff to return if not. If Cash comes out a girl, I am going hurt her! I think I am going to have nightmares tonight!!!!
