Except for the sonogram days, I was making my doctor appointment for the mornings so that I could go to them after dropping the boys off at school. But, I decided that it would be better for me to make my 38 week appointment at 4:30pm so that Dustin could go with me. I am SO glad I did. My platelet count had been dropping again like it had done with Baylor, but this time it was dropping slowly, and with each appointment I was worried that I would hear it was now too low. My doctor walked into the exam room that Tuesday with, "we're having a baby this week!" I was 38 weeks along, so it wasn't too soon like it was with Baylor, but it was still shocking. She said, "I'm busy tomorrow, so would you like to have this baby on Thursday or Friday?". And Dustin's birthday was on that Friday, so I let him make the call. Would he want Everett to share his birthday or to be born the day before? We talked about it, and he asked the advice of the doctor, and he decided Thursday was the day. We had an appointment at the hospital on September 8th at 6am to be induced!
We had one day to get ready. There were several things still undone that I had wanted finished before baby, but the main things were ready, and we were out of time. I got very little sleep Wednesday night as I was cleaning the house (!), and I was also very nervous about what was to come. Thursday morning came very quickly! We drove to the hospital and checked in through the Emergency Room entrance since the hospital wasn't open yet. It took quite awhile to check in, and then we made our way up to the 2nd floor. They weighed me and got me settled into a room. I was soon hooked up, and labor was progressing. They said that I was already having contractions before I got there, but they were so small that I couldn't feel them yet. After they got my labor really going with the IV, I could sure feel them though! I had decided to try to not get the epidural this time, and there were some moments there where I honestly thought I could not go on as the pain was so intense, but I did. At one point, a nurse checked me and said she thought I was up to 9 cm. My main nurse checked right after and said that no, I was closer to 7 cm. Ugh!! I told Dustin, "he'll never be born!" The last hour or so was the worst. I began pushing a little earlier than they wanted me to, but I was at 10 cm, and I told them I was ready. My main nurse told me that she would call the doctor in about 10 minutes and not to push yet, but another nurse said that I could bear down if I felt like I needed to. I took that advice to heart, and my doctor almost didn't make it to the birth! They had pulled another doctor from somewhere in the hospital when they realized how close Everett was to being born, but my doctor made it. She had just enough time to put on her mask and gloves, and then she was catching him! She asked the nurse why they didn't call her sooner.
Dr Geldernick said that he weighed about 9 pounds when she caught him, and then he peed on her! Haha. She passed him to a nurse and got ready for the afterbirth. They wrapped him up in a blanket and passed him to me. He was beautiful. It was love at first sight! I was a sweaty mess and had been in the worst pain of my life just a few minutes earlier, but in the first pictures taken of me with Everett, I have a huge smile on my face. I was so happy to have been given such a precious gift.
