Chapter 9

The next two weeks went by rather quickly and by now everyone knew of John and Stephanie's engagement. And even though everyone kept asking them about setting a date, they wanted to wait until after the baby was born to get married.

The morning of the ultrasound came rather quickly and after drinking 32 ounces of water, Stephanie was more than ready to get it over with. Once they arrived at the hospital and checked in, they took their seats in the waiting room.

"Hardy." A nurse called out.

Stephanie and John followed the nurse into the ultrasound room and Stephanie laid down on the exam table. John pulled a chair over so that he could sit next to Stephanie. While they waited for the tech to come in, John and Stephanie started talking about names.

"What if we have a girl?" John asked.

"Well, I kinda like the names Jocelyn, Jennifer and Juliet." Stephanie answered.

"I like Juliet. How about Juliet Ruby Cena?" John asked.

"I love it. Now what if we are having a boy?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, I would like to keep the tradition running and name him after me." John answered.

"I love that idea." Stephanie responded as the tech walked in.

The tech did the exam and then showed the screen to Stephanie and John. Both were amazed that someone so tiny and someone they never met could have such an impact on their lives.

"Did you want to know the sex of the baby?" the tech asked.

"Yes, please." Stephanie answered.

"Ok. Let's take a look." the tech responded as she moved the wand over Stephanie's stomach. "And if you look right there you have a very proud little boy. Congratulations."

Once Stephanie was cleaned off, she and John left the hospital with ultrasound pictures in hand. Both Stephanie and John were thrilled that they were having a boy, even though they would have been just as thrilled if it were a girl.

After they were home, Stephanie scanned the pictures into the computer and sent them out to everyone who needed to know. Stephanie also managed to print out a larger picture of the one revealing the sex of the baby for John's picture frame.

As the weeks and months passed. Stephanie was still able to travel with John and RAW. Kinley and Shannon were still trying to get pregnant, but were now having fun doing it. Stephanie nearing her eighth month when she put in for her maternity leave. As she was leaving Vince's office, she ran into Kinley.

"Hey Kinley. How are you?" Stephanie asked.

"Good. How are you and the baby?" Kinley answered.

"Good. 4 more weeks to go." Stephanie stated.

"That's good." Kinley stated as she turned sidways.

"Kinley, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but have you put on weight?" Stephanie asked.

"A little. But it's for a good reason." Kinley answered.

"And that would be…Kinley are you?" Stephanie asked.

"11 weeks and counting." Kinley answered with a big smile.

"Congratulations! See I told you it would happen." Stephanie responded.

"Thanks. We haven't really told anyone yet as we want to be past 12 weeks when we do. You're the first to know." Kinley responded.

"I am so happy for you." Stephanie stated as she hugged her best friend.

The rest of the day Stephanie spent with the creative team going over storylines for the next three months. She made sure that they knew just because she was off to have the baby, that it didn't mean that she wasn't still in charge. She also told them that she would hold a conference call once a week until she was back at work just to make sure that everything was under control.

The next two weeks went by quickly and Stephanie couldn't wait to have the baby. The nursery was finally done and Carol had booked her plane tickets to come down for when the baby would be born. She was flying in the day before John's birthday.

"You look wonderful!" Carol told Stephanie as they walked to the airport parking lot.

"Thanks, although I feel like a beached whale." Stephanie responded.

"I understand that feeling. But that baby will be here before you know it." Carol stated.

Once they got to the house, John made dinner while Stephanie and Carol chatted about the baby. After dinner John and Carol did the dishes while Stephanie headed upstairs to rest. When John finally joined Stephanie in bed, she had a stopwatch in her hand.

"Honey are you ok?" John asked.

"Yeah. I think they're just braxton hicks contractions. Let's get some sleep." Stephanie answered.

John and Stephanie quickly fell asleep, but it didn't last very long. It was nearly 3am when Stephanie was woken up by much stronger contractions. She didn't want to wake John up in case they were still braxton hicks.

Stephanie left the master bedroom and walked down the hall to the guest room where Carol was sleeping. She knocked on the door and waited for Carol to answer.

"Stephanie. Is everything ok?" Carol asked when she opened the door.

"I'm not sure if I am having real or braxton hicks contractions." Stephanie answered.

"Well, come in here and sit down. We'll time them together and if they get stronger and closer together then we'll wake John up." Carol responded.

Stephanie and Carol sat there for about 45 minutes until both noticed that the contractions were about 6 minutes apart. Carol helped Stephanie stand up and as soon as she did, her water broke. Carol got dressed and then headed into the master bedroom to get John up and grab some clothes for Stephanie.

Once everyone was ready to go, John drove to the hospital while Carol called everyone that needed to be called. Upon arriving at the hospital, Stephanie was rushed up to labor and delivery and hooked up to monitors and an IV. A doctor came in to check Stephanie's progress and she was already dilated to a 6. John and Carol remained in the room with Stephanie the whole time.