Introducing...Cash Ryan Patterson!

On June 23rd at 3PM, my water broke while I was on the table at my doctor's office. He sent us straight to the hospital. I was completely shocked because I was only dialated to a 1.5. And Casey was still covered in sand from that morning's beach practice. We ran home to shower and grab our hospital bags that had been packed for over two weeks. We got to the hospital at 3:45PM and I was hooked up to the monitors by 4PM. I wasn't feeling my contractions yet, but they were there on the machine. At 5PM, they started me on pitocin to speed along the labor process. I started feeling the contractions at 6PM. By 8PM, they were strong enough that I had to really breathe through them. Around 11PM, Casey fell asleep. Meanwhile I am still laboring and oh yeah, starving! They wouldn't let me eat anything except ice chips and popsicles. By this time the pitocin is really making the contractions stronger. But I was still trying to walk it off. Around 12AM, the breathing isn't helping and I'm on the birthing ball doing everything possible to get through the contractions. They were about 50 seconds long and one minute apart. I thought for sure that it was getting close. I had the nurse come check to see if I was further along and I was only at a 2.5! I couldn't believe it. I thought the end was in sight. At 1AM, I was crying through my contractions and Casey woke up. We called the nurse in and I decided that an epidural was going to need to take place ASAP. By 2AM, I was numb, pain free, and delirious. We both fell asleep hoping that we would have this baby by the time we woke up the next morning. At 4AM, the baby's heart rate started dropping. At 5AM, they took me off pitocin to help the baby's heart rate. By 6AM, I was dialated to a 6! Without pitocin! Around 7AM, my epidural started wearing off. Two pumps of epidural boost later, I was all numb again. At 10AM, I was dialated to a 10. The nurse had me do a couple of pushes to see if I was close. After the second push, the baby was crowning so she told me to stop pushing and she called my doctor. By 10:45AM, I was having a hard time not pushing because my epidural was wearing off and I was feeling a lot of pressure to push. The doctor arrived. At 11:02AM, after 5 pushes, we finally met our son.

Cash Ryan Patterson
Born June 24, 2009 at 11:02AM
7 lbs 15 oz
21.5 inches long

As soon as he came out of me, the doctor placed him on my chest. It was love at first sight. I watched with tears in my eyes as he took his first cry in my arms. Casey and I looked at each other and cried with joy, relief, fear, and excitement. Is this really happening? Then Casey cut his umbilical cord as I cradled him. Cash was swept away to be cleaned, weighed, measured, and checked. Then he was brought back for our "golden hour". He was placed on my chest, skin to skin, and everyone disappeared for an hour while Casey and I just held him and gazed at him. What an incredible experience. Worth the wait. Worth every minute of those 40 weeks. Worth every ounce of nausea and vomiting. Worth the 40 pounds I packed on. Cash was worth everything and more. Casey and I are in love. We can't stop staring at him. He's so beautiful. He's perfect. He's ours.

And now we are three.