My baby is 3 today!! I have mixed emotions about today. Of course, I'm so happy to be sharing this milestone with him today, but it's another reminder of how fast my kid's are growing.

I know I've shared with you once before that I have a birthday tradition with my children, that I stole from the movie "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", where I wake the child on their birthdays, with their own cake,(including candles), and we party in our pajamas, in bed, eating cake for breakfast. I have another tradition, and this one actually includes the husband. We share the story of the child's birth with them, excluding the gory details, of course. We tell them what the weather was like that day, where we went, and so on and so forth. The kid's genuinely like to hear of their day.

So today, I'm going to share a brief rundown of Cash's birth day. It started on Saturday, October 29, 2005. I was due on the first of November, which happened to be my husband's birthday, and with our church Halloween party that evening, and Halloween that Monday. I was secretly hoping to wait until at least then.

After waking up in the mood.....for pancakes. Maddie and I took off for a day of shopping with the women in my husband's family. Gavin was going to bum around with his dad, we would meet up later that afternoon, and get the kid's ready for the party. Well, my good mood, quickly turned sour. I just didn't feel good....at all. Not that anything in particular bothered me, I just felt blah! Even after returning home, I told my husband, "I'd give anything to not have to attend the Halloween Party that night."

We both thought a nap would help me, so I laid down with the kid's, while Cody went to help a neighbor. I awoke a little later, feeling fabulous. I felt amazing. I showered, shaved my legs, and really felt like fixing myself up. After getting ready, I got Maddie in her costume, and was just waking Gavin to dress him, when I felt my first contraction. And you know me, ever the procrastinator, I went to the bedroom to pack my bags....yes, feel free to tsk, tsk, here. While I was packing my bags, I felt another contraction, and just as I was about to call my husband, I saw him driving down our road, and I had yet another contraction.

This sent Cody into what can only be described as a downward spiral. He kept telling me to "Calm down", as he was racing through the house trying to get a shower, literally run into walls as he was doing so. I was calmly packing up the kid's, as he was frantically trying to get ahold of his grandma and cousin, every once in awhile shouting again for me to "Hang On, or Calm Down." By this time...I've still just had the three contractions, and am worried it's not even "time." At any rate we set a new world record for getting to the hospital from where we lived. I'm embarrassed to even admit how fast we made it to the hospital, so I won't.

It was actually pretty uneventful in the beginning. I was doing my breathing, Cody by my side, coaching like a pro. It wasn't until my contractions got so bad, I felt like I couldn't breathe, that my mom noticed the machine recording my contractions looked very.....busy. No sooner had she voiced her concern, did a nurse come in, putting an oxygen mask on me, telling me the baby was under a little stress, and that we would have the baby in a half hour.

I remember just holding my belly, and trying to memorize exactly how it felt to be pregnant, because we'd already decided this baby would be our last. And while I couldn't wait to meet him/or her(since I didn't know, although I had a clue)I was sad that it was over. And Cody was great, letting me have my time, understanding how hard that moment was for me. Silly, I know...but we all know rationality has never been my strong point.

Soon it was time. Cody was at my side, holding my hand cheerleading, a nurse at my other side doing the same. And that's when I saw,...the look...between the doctor and nurse. It was a quick look, but I caught it. They look that said, there is something wrong. I quickly turned wide-eyed to look at my husbad, who was oblivious to anything, but his cheering, and trying not to catch a peak of anything going on below my shoulders, telling me everything was fine. But everything was not fine. Cash was a big baby, and his football player shoulders were lodged. But thanks to a wonderful doctor, an amazingly strong 90 lb durse, and every ounce of energy I had, Cash was born....and was perfect.

And here we are 3 years later getting ready to celebrate with a big Construction Party, complete with a backhoe birthday cake.

Oh, and FYI, this is kind of neat....Cash was born in the middle of daylight savings times. So while he was born at 2:51 a.m., they had to backdate his birthtime to 1:51 a.m. Thought I would share.