Second Heartbeat

God above created you for me to love

July 6, 2007, 9 months pregnant

I am so close to my due date that I can hardly contain myself. Matt is so excited too but he doesn’t show it enough. The boys are excited too, because my due date is fast approaching it also means that the work on the album is almost over.

I woke up this morning at 10 and felt a slight kick in my stomach; my guess is that Baby Deathbat was saying “Good Morning!”

Matt and I got ready but of course, it took me longer because of my big belly. Matt wore a “Ghostbusters” shirt and jean shorts, while I wore maternity jean shorts and a black maternity shirt with “You can touch my belly if I can punch your face” written on it.

Now that I am 9 months pregnant, I get extremely testy with those who want to touch my belly. I am already so uncomfortable, having a stranger or other person (besides Matt) touch my belly just sets me off.

Anyway, after getting dressed, we went downstairs to eat breakfast, which this morning was just cereal. After waddling around the house waiting for Matt to do the dishes, we were on our way to the studio.

I made sure that Matt brought our “hospital bag” because I am only 4 days away from my due date and you can never be too sure about when the baby will get here. Once Matt finished, he grabbed the bag and then we both walked to the garage and he put the bag into the trunk and then opened my door for me.

After arriving at El Dorado Studios at 11, Matt and I sat down on the couch and waited for everyone else to show up. Fred and Walter were already there but of course the other boys were taking their time coming today because it was one of the last days.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew it was 1:00 P.M. and my stomach was not only growling but was hurting, but the pain went away after a few minutes. Matt and the boys were ordering food when I waddled to the “kitchen” area.

They decided on Chinese, which made me happy. They noticed me and then Johnny said,

“Well, look who decided to grace the world with her presence once again.”

“Shut the hell up Johnny! You don’t know what it is like, trying to move with a 30 pound stomach and trying to move with it too!”

I said.

“Ashlyn,”

Matt said,

“It’s ok; he was just trying to be funny.”

“I know,”

I said,

“But it’s so hard to remain calm when you are so exhausted from everything. I just want Baby Deathbat to be here already.”

“I know, we all want him or her here with us.”

So, once I apologized to Johnny, Brian ordered the food. Thankfully, it didn’t take that long to get the food because once it did, I “went to town”.

Once I finished my beef fried rice and two eggrolls, the boys weren’t even finished with their egg rolls. Oops, I guess that is what happens when you are eating for two? Once they finished, we opened our fortune cookies, I opened mine last and it said,

“A nice surprise is coming to you soon.”

Zacky said,

“Well, I guess it means Baby Deathbat will be here soon, but we knew that already. Your due date is only what, four days away?”

I nodded and then we discussed that today was going to be “shits and giggles” day for “A Little Piece of Heaven.” This meant that all the funny stuff was going to happen today. I was so happy; I needed a good laugh to distract me from my impatience over Baby Deathbat’s arrival.

Once we decided that, we all sat down in the control room. Ok, I sat down on the couch while Matt sat rubbing my feet and the rest of the “crew” were standing up. We had to discuss what exactly we wanted for “shits and giggles” for the song. Fred informed us that they didn’t have much time in the song but only for about a total of two minutes. After a few minutes, Jimmy said,

“How about when Matt sings ‘eat it’, Johnny, Brian and I sing ‘eat it’ two more times?”

After thinking it over, a smile hit all of the boys’ faces and Matt said,

“That sounds like a great start.”

This continued on for about another hour and a half while the boys went back and forth saying,

“Yeah, that sounds great”

Or

“That is the stupidest shit I have ever heard!”

Or

“Hell no!”

By now it was 4 P.M. and we still hadn’t decided what to do. Sure we had some ideas but nothing was really solid. Plus it didn’t help that the boys made everyone “vote” on suggestions that made it past the “yeah that’s sounds great” round. I was getting frustrated and could feel what felt like contractions, but they were very light and infrequent so I thought it was false labor again, so I told them,

“Let’s take a break for right now so we can clear our heads and not go at each other’s throats every time someone doesn’t like our ideas. We can have dinner and then rationally decide what you want to do.

So, everyone went to different parts of the studio to “chill out”. Matt and I stayed on the couch, Jimmy went to the kitchen area, Johnny went to the piano room, Zacky took a smoke break and Brian drove to get us some dinner, because we had suggested “chilling out” for at least 30 minutes.

When everyone had calmed down and Brian had arrived back with In N Out for everyone. He was so sweet, he ordered a Double Double© with French Fries and a Chocolate Shake. Once everyone had eaten it was now 6:00 and we were once again attempting to discuss what “shits and giggles” would be in “A Little Piece of Heaven.”

Thankfully, this time the discussion only lasted thirty minutes. Then, we had to categorize them…in order of how they were going to record them. This “categorizing” took another hour, so it was now 7:30 P.M. Thankfully they started recording immediately after that.

They did the funny things but around 8:45 P.M. Matt had a breakthrough and decided to add one final “shits and giggles” bit. He told the boys, but kept me out of the loop. During this whole time, I felt what seemed to be regular contractions but I still wasn’t sure. Finally, Matt went into the booth and laughed with Jimmy and then on the 3rd take, screamed,

“Come Here You Fucking Bitch!”

Just at that moment, I felt a huge gush of water go down my pants and a HUGE contraction rip through my body. I had to let it out, so I screamed too,

“AHHH!!!!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and Matt ran out of the recording booth and said,

“Baby are you ok?”

“I don’t think so, I am pretty sure my water just broke, so we need to go to the hospital because Baby Deathbat is on his or her way.”

Then Zacky said,

“Alright, we are going to be uncle’s soon!”

Matt started running around the studio for about 5 minutes and I finally screamed when another contraction hit,

“Matt, what are you doing?”

“Looking for the hospital bag, it’s not anywhere!”

“It’s in the Escalade Matt, let’s go, but first call Dr. Montgomery.”

Matt quickly called Dr. Montgomery and was very frantic I thought he was going to forget something. Thankfully he didn’t and informed me that Dr. Montgomery would meet us at the hospital. I said goodbye to everyone and they told us they would meet us later when Baby Deathbat was born.

We drove to the hospital and we got there in 20 minutes instead of the regular 30 minutes, which was fine by me. Thankfully we didn’t get stopped by a cop and Matt actually found a pretty good parking spot. He ran into the hospital without me, apparently to let the emergency people know that I was in labor and my water had broken.

Soon, he was running back and had a nurse with him who had a wheelchair. He opened my door and helped me in the wheelchair and then grabbed the hospital bag and we were off to Labor and Delivery.

Once I was in the room, they gave me a robe. I changed, got on the bed and then Dr. Montgomery came in and said,

“Ashlyn, so good to see you. I see your baby decided to come a little bit early, but that’s alright, you are prepared. How long have you been in labor, or how long do you think you have been in labor?”

“I think I started having contractions around noon today, but I wasn’t sure and I ignored it until 8:45 when my water broke.”

She told me she was going to check and see how far along I was right now. Once she was done she said,

“Well Ashlyn, you are now 4 centimeters, I will check you in another hour and see how far you are then. Please try and get some rest between now and then. The anesthesiologist can give you an epidural in about half an hour, should I tell him you are ready?”

Matt answered for me,

“Hell yes you should, before she breaks my hand!”

Dr. Montgomery laughed and said she would call Dr. Russo and have him come in around 10 and she would be back at 10:30.

Until Dr. Russo came, I tried to get some sleep but I couldn’t because of the pain and Baby Deathbat was moving so much. So, I called Mama, Daddy, Claire and Charles, who sounded so excited and promised to start the phone tree, so Matt wouldn’t have to call everyone. They also told us to call when Baby Deathbat was finally here, no matter what time. When he finally came, I swear I heard Matt say,

“Thank God!”

Dr. Russo was very gentle and tried to ease my mind while putting the epidural and the catheter that is attached to an infusion pump, so that he wouldn’t have to come back and administer another dose if needed. Matt held my hand through the whole process and sang “Dear God” to me while it was going on.

Once Dr. Russo was finished, Matt thanked him and then he left. The epidural started working almost immediately, which was great. I actually got to rest my eyes for about 25 minutes. I was pulled out of my almost sleep when Dr. Montgomery came in at 10:30. She checked me again and stated I was still at 4 centimeters but was really close to 5. She also said she would be back at 11 to check me again.

Eleven came and went and I had moved to 5 centimeters, Dr. Montgomery would check me in another hour. Matt and I both fell into a quick nap and when midnight hit, I had a nurse check on everything, the baby’s heartbeat and my “progress”. I was still at 5 centimeters and would be checked again in another hour.

It was now July 7, 2007, Brian’s 26th birthday. I called him and said,

“Hey Brian, I know you are still up, so Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks Ashlyn, is Baby Deathbat here yet?”

“No, not yet, but maybe he or she will be born on your birthday, after all, I still only have 5 centimeters to go!”

“Alright! That would be so cool to share a birthday with my niece or nephew!”

“Ok, we will call you when he or she gets here, we all love you.”

“Alright, thanks for the birthday wish, good bye.”

“Bye.”

At 1, I had finally reached 6 centimeters and surprisingly reached 7 and 8 by 2:30 A.M. At 4, I was at 9. By 4:30, I was finally at 10 and it was time to start pushing. At 5:15, I was ready to give up but Matt and Dr. Montgomery would not let me because Matt said,

“Remember Ashlyn, this is what we have been waiting for, just a few more pushes and Baby Deathbat will be here. Just push for me baby, you can do it!”

So, I persevered and pushed again, after pushing for another 5 minutes, Dr. Montgomery declared,

“I see a head full of hair, keep pushing Ashlyn!”

I kept on pushing until I heard a faint cry and then that started the water works in me too. I barely heard Dr. Montgomery say,

“It’s a girl, 5:25 A.M. Congratulations Matt and Ashlyn!”

Matt kissed my cheek and then said,

“We have a girl, and Ryleigh Gracen Sanders is here. You did so well baby, I am so proud of you.”

Dr. Montgomery spoke again,

“So, Daddy, do you want to cut Ryleigh Gracen’s cord?”

“I sure do!”

Matt said

He cut her cord and then the nurses took Ryleigh Gracen to clean her up and weigh her. Matt went over to take her picture. After they cleaned her up, I heard Matt say,

“She is so tiny,”

So I asked,

“How tiny is she Matt?”

“Five pounds six ounces and she is 18 inches long.”

I stopped crying when they brought her to me. I looked in her eyes and said,

“Hi Ryleigh Gracen, I am your Mommy, can you open your eyes for Mommy?”

She did and although she had the normal newborn blue eyes, something told me her eyes were going to stay blue. Matt had one of the nurses take a picture of us and of course I smiled. Matt called his parents and screamed into the phone,

“Congratulations Nana and Gampa! Ryleigh Gracen Sanders is here! She was born at 5:25, weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 inches long! Cannot talk for too long because I have to call Ashlyn’s parents, love you!”

After that, the lactation specialist came in and helped Ryleigh Gracen and I learn how to breast feed, while she was doing that, Matt called my parents,

“Congratulations, Mimi and Pap! Ryleigh Gracen Sanders is here! She was born at 5:25, weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 inches long! Yes, she is really here. No, Ashlyn cannot talk. The lactation specialist is here right now. Yes we can have visitors later today. Thanks!”

I am so happy I could cry, but I won’t. While Ryleigh Gracen is eating, I started to sing to her

“Because God made you, that's why I love you.
I really think that God above
Created you just for me to love;
He picked you out from all the rest
Because he knew, dear, that I'd love you the best.”

Ryleigh Gracen took really well to breast feeding and is now sleeping in her little bassinet next to me. When I was 17, I never imagined that at 21, I would not only be married but also have a daughter. It amazes me every day that God would bless me so much. I know Matt is going on tour soon but I will not think about that, I will enjoy each day I have with him and Ryleigh Gracen. I cannot wait to see where life takes us next.

♠ ♠ ♠

Well, that's the end of this story...only one more left! Thanks to everyone who commented and helped me...you know who you are :D.
Final Links for this story!
July 6, 2007
Going to the Hospital
Baby Deathbat is HERE!

The final story will be posted sometime soon, but not exactly sure about that. I am also going to be posting a Kellan Lutz story soon...if you are interested, read it when it comes out or recommend it to those you think might like it. Thanks again :D