The Birth: September 28, 2011

4:00 A.M.
I wake up to find out that Ashley had already been having minor contractions since 1 o'clock. I asked her why she didn't wake me up and she said there was no need too, which I then agreed and went back to sleep.

4:49 A.M.
I can't sleep with the nurse continuing to come in and out of the room so I decided to watch some Sportscenter.

5:49 A.M.
Only problem with watching Sportscenter so early in the morning is after one hour there is nothing else to watch. So I tried to go back to sleep.

6:18 A.M.
Can't sleep so I start to work on my blog.

6:42 A.M.
Ashley is now asleep and I am wide awake.

7:24 A.M.
I start taking pictures and video of this experience. Ashley yells and curses at me.

7:35 A.M.
We get our first visit from the doctor and Ashley is already 2 cm dilated! Doctor said at this rate we could meet Kherington by noon! They don't have to give her pitocin to speed up the process because she is doing it all on her own. Kherington can't wait to meet her daddy!

7:36 A.M.
Everyone is receiving mass texts from me letting them know noon is the time for my scheduled landing.

8:02 A.M.
Ashley's contractions are bad. She sounds like a wounded seal.

8:05 A.M.
Ashley is screaming for the epidural even though the doctor told her to wait till she is about 4 cm. But what do doctors know?!

8:32 A.M.
By this time Ashley's body is an ocean of sweat and she is screaming for an epidural like Mel Gibson screamed for his son in Ransom.

8:35 A.M.
I step outside the room to grab the nurse so Ashley can get her epidural shot and from the hallway her room sounds like a scene from Hostel. She sounded like she was being tortured.

8:46 A.M.
While Ashley is laying there screaming and cursing at me, I asked her, "This doesn't mean we aren't going to have another one right?" Wrong question to ask!

9:05 A.M.
Here comes the epidural man to save my day!

9:11 A.M.
Ashley is asleep.

9:20 A.M.
I'm asleep.

10:15 A.M.
My mom is the first person to come visit since we heard our target time of noon.

10:56 A.M.
Ashley is at 9 cm! It is almost time! My facebook and twitter are constantly being updated along with my mass texts being sent out.

11:12 A.M.
Ashley's dad is here now!

11:20 A.M.
Trying to figure out if we will be all set in our room for the St. Louis Cardinals game at 8 o'clock. They have to win to force a one game playoff but if the Atlanta Braves lose and the Cardinals win the Cardinals clinch the NL Wild Card. So Kherington didn't come on a Sunday to interfere with the NFL games but now she might interfere with one of MLB's biggest nights? I can already see that this is a sign from God telling me she will be getting in the way of a lot of sporting events in the future.

11:52 A.M.
We find out that Dr. Hardy has a C-section at 12 o'clock and that he will be in afterwards. The nurse says Ashley is still at 9 cm and she is going to give her some pitocin to help to that last centimeter.

12:10 P.M.
The wounded seal is back.

12:57 P.M.
The wounded seal is still, well... wounded.

1:05 P.M.
The nurses come in and gives us the instructions for when Ashley pushes. How to hold her smelly feet, where to give her leg support, and how to count to ten.

1:26 P.M.
Still pushing. Facebook and twitter getting constantly updated.

1:31 P.M.
Well hello Dr. Hardy!

1:47 P.M.
I can see her head! This is so amazing! Haven't started crying yet!

1:50 P.M.
O-M-G! (Yes, I just used OMG to explain my feelings. I am at an emotional state, give me a break!) This is by far the neatest most awesomest (Yes, awesomest) experience I have ever had!

1:53 P.M.
Her head is out! And tears form.

1:54 P.M.
Little miss Kherington Marie is born, cue the water works. The 10 or so seconds it took for her to start crying was probably the most nerve wrecking experience, and I couldn't even see her because my eyes were blurry. Her stats are 7 lbs. and 19.25 inches.

1:55 P.M.
I cut the umbilical cord which was like taking a pair of kitchen shears and cutting a garden hose. Not as easy as it looks!

1:57 P.M.
Ashley gets to hold the love of her life. I look at Kherington in her eyes and I can see she gave me the, "Move aside I'm number one now!" look. Already this child has her mother's attitude. Unbelievable.

2:01 P.M.
I get to hold my beautiful baby girl. Greatest moment of my life. I finally got to meet her.

2:07 P.M.
Family and friends are allowed to come into the room and share this experience with us. Thank you to all who showed up and thank you to everyone who didn't because that would have been really crowded then.

Tip #42: Watch your child being born. It sounds disgusting and in every video you watch before hand it is disgusting. But when that is your child being born, and you are watching him or her start their life. It is absolutely breath taking.

And this is when my plane landed on my journey to, destination... dad.

The Game: September 3rd, 2011

Old Dominion kicks off their inaugural season in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Conference) today. This is one of maybe three games that Ashley will be able to go to this year. She won't be able to climb up the stairs at the stadium once Kherington is born, but I will still be able too!

Ashley was a trooper though. She is a pregnant woman who looks like she is about to pop, (seriously explode not metaphorically) and still tailgated the four hours before hand (without consuming any alcohol) and stayed for the entire game. Now notice how I did not say "and never complained." Well there is a reason for that. The game time temperature was somewhere in the high 70s, but the wind was being blocked by the stadium and the sun shines directly on our section for the first half. So Ashley was sweating like a whore in a church. She kept telling me how miserable she was and she was starting to feel claustrophobic because she was so big and there was such little space. I looked at her with the most serious face ever and said, "Now you know how I feel all the time. So I don't ever want to hear you tell me to stop complaining when I am sweating wherever we are." Not only was she sweating though, around the beginning of the 3rd quarter I look down at her feet and mistaken ed them for elephant feet. Her feet were so swollen she could have been the foot double for Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal. Ashley had been on her feet all day (a pregnant woman no-no) and was trying to hide them from my mom and dad because they would have yelled at her. She didn't do a good job though because after the game they were telling her to put ice on them and prop them up and then I was getting in trouble from them for allowing this to happen. Like I have the power to constrict her veins!

Tip #37: I don't and will not do it because I hate feet (I even hate my own feet), but rub her feet for her, it helps with the swelling.

And this is when I realized the toll that this plane was taking during my journey to, destination... dad.