Cash "Coopah Supah Doopah"

Today is the day. My baby is one! It has flown by. I guess this means I can't use the excuse that I just had a baby anymore. Dang it! That one was working so well for me! This little guy had quite an eventful beginning. And since by now you know that I like to tell a story, here comes another one.

So I am 2 weeks from my due date and I go into see the Doc. He says I am dialated to a 5 and asks, "Are you sure you aren't in labor?" Needless to say, after almost delivering Keane on the freeway, the fact that I live 30 minutes from the hospital, and I am already halfway dialated, Dr. said that he doesn't really feel good about sending me home and would I be interested in going over to the hospital and seeing if we could get things going. To the hospital you say? I just so happen to have a babysitter already lined up (thx Amanda and Susan!) and there is a suitcase in my car packed for three days. I think I am ready Doc! So I headed over to the hospital and after 30 minutes on the phone of trying to convince Tyler that I was truly at the hospital. He came to meet me. I was SIKED!!!

I am one of those sick people that loves labor. Maybe it is the distance runner in me, I don't know, but I love to see how the body and mind handles pain and overcomes it. I feel like labor is like a roller coaster, and as soon as it is over, I look forward to the next time I can do it again. I know, I have issues.

So the nurses were a little turbed that the doc had sent over an induction but he reassured them that I would go quickly. I could see the look in their eyes "sure that's what they all say" they were thinking. Well we got going on the pitocin and not much was happening. An hour went by and Dr. came to break my water on his lunch break. YES. Well things definitely started happening and FAST. After 30 minutes or so of some serious non stop contractions, I decided to ask for my epidural. I knew that I was not progressing as quickly as I thought and was thinking we would be laboring for a few more hours.

So I sit up, the anesthesiologist is cleaning my back and the nurse (very cute and nice girl named Brook Brown) is standing in front of me helping me to brace for the epidural. Epidural begins, needle goes in my back, and just as she is trying to find the "sweet spot" I feel a baby coming out. WHA?!?!?!? I grabbed nurse Brook's shoulders and looked up in panic. I had NEVER felt this feeling before, the urgency to push and not able to stop pushing. The nurse was shocked too, well after calling for backup and a couple minutes of panic while we got the epidural finished and I managed to keep the baby in, I flipped back onto my back and the nurse took a look. Sure enough, there was little Cash, RIGHT THERE and ready to go. So somewhere in that 30 minutes I managed to completely dialate and just didn't realize it until I sat up.

I was very excited. Then I was also disappointed, here again! I had gotten an epidural at the completion of my labor, when I did not need it! UGH! If I had only known that I was almost done. Baby #4 maybe. Anyhow, Cash came quickly and he came out crying. Music to a mother's ears. A sign that baby is strong and breathing and most likely healthy. Well they took him over to clean him off, and Ty took the video camera over to get some shots of our new little guy.

All of the sudden, the crying stopped. I watched the happenings over at the table where my new baby lay. My heart stopped as I notice the nurse trying everything to revive him and. . .nothing. 10 seconds...20 seconds...30 seconds and nothing. I felt completely helpless. He lay there limp and now purple as the nurse called for an EMT and bagged him in another attempt to bring Cash back to life. I looked at Ty and he read my thoughts which were, "turn off the camera, I don't want the death of my baby on film". Just after this, he gasped and began to cry again. OH RELIEF! He was back. They whisked him away to the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) for more tests and observation.

Turns out that a lot of babies that come out crying and then stop breathing end up having a serious heart valve defect. Everything will function normally in the womb and with the first few breaths but as the blood and oxygen begins to circulate through the body, everything malfunctions. They did chest x-rays and blood tests and everything came back normal. Phew. There was a problem though, since Cash decided to come through the chute at light speed, there was still a lot of fluid in his lungs, and he was having a lot of difficulty breathing. His breathing was very audible and labored and I could tell that each breath he took was serious work for him. They would have to observe him and let me know what the plan was going to be.

I usually am an optimistic person and this situation was no different. I knew that he would be okay in a couple of hours and then he would come into our room and get to meet everyone and everything would be normal. So as all of our family members arrived and were anxious to meet him, I walked down to the NICU to get an update. "He's not doing too well, we are going to have to admit him," the nurse tells me. I try to maintain composure but the reality of everything that happened earlier, and the fact that my baby is now in intensive care has finally hit me. I walk out to try and explain to everyone what she just told me and I totally lost it. Like in a bad way, like let's just say high octaves and two IV bags that came out my tear ducts. Oh well, what can you do.



Well after about 3 days, Cash had worked it all out and we had made friendly with some great nurses at Banner Gateway (nurse Margaret in photo). I loved watching these nurses handle the babies. Tubes and IVs in these itty bitty little bundles of pink flesh (and they knew just what to do to soothe them. I loved how they always talked to them. There was not one cry that went without a lengthy verbal reply. They would say "What are you complaining about, I just styled your hair?" or "Register, (Cash's night nurse called him "Register" get it, Cash Register) you just ate! Aren't you ready for a nap or something?" They were so sweet, gentle, and understanding of an anxious emotional post pardem mother. I spent lots of time in there feeding Cash and watching him breathe. He got better and better each day and at the end of the third day they were able to take his IV out and we were able to take him home!

Some of you may know about the fact that months before the birth in each of Lucy's prayers she would say, "please bless that when the baby comes out and he stops breathing that they will be able to help him get his breathing back". It creeped me out so much that she was forbidden to pray at all for the last trimester. So after all this happened it made me wonder how she knew about this? How do you explain that?

One year later, this kid has brought nothing but happiness to this home. Heavenly Father must want me to have more babies because Cash is as easy as they come. He sleeps at least 12 hours a night, and has since he was 7 months old. His cheesy grin is sooooo contageous and can cheer up a grouchy sister in 2 seconds flat. He is not much of a cuddler, but his other sibling make up for that and we will never stop trying to force our physical affection onto him! You know you secretly like it Cash. But seriously, he hasn't given me a kiss in 2 months! Why do you have to be so difficult! He loves to eat, and I think that is pretty obvious. Although he doesn't eat THAT much. I promise. He is just big boned okay! Ha. He is known for that "stone cold" expression that he has most of the time (just like his Dad).

Although he is a fabulous baby, I can tell this kid has some serious fire in him. While pregnant, doc said, "if you are waiting for a red head, this one is it." He was extremely active in the womb and has not stopped. Keane was so low key that we didn't even have to put hardly any child locks on and Cash...well he is completely opposite. I would say his top three loves are steering wheels, electronics, and being outside. Those three things pretty much consume his every thought. I see him at meal times and bed time and the rest of the time he is BUSY! We ADORE our little Cash Man and are so thankful to have him in our family.





















What a handsome blonde!! Check out those deltoids!
Oh, and you're kinda cute too Tyson.











GURTH!





















GIGGLES!
















GLUTEOUS! (that is a nice big chewy, booty folks--it doesn't get any better than that!)