So I've been wanting to update for a while. But my goodness - how am I supposed to sum up all that's happened in the last 18 days. Even as I write "18 days" it seems crazy. It's already felt more like a year. But these last 18 days have been some of the sweetest, richest days we've ever experienced. March 6th, 7:00am on the dot (already punctual - gotta respect that!) our boy Cameron Thomas Accardi made his debut into this world. It feels like we've told this story a million times but I'm not tired of it yet, so here's a summary of how it all went down...
Tuesday, March 2nd
Erin is officially "post-due." Cameron is cozy and doesn't want to budge. We go see the Baby Doc and he reports that there's been no progress. We decide to go ahead and schedule to be induced on Monday the 8th. We could've scheduled to go in on Friday the 6th but we have Late Night with Young Life that night - one of our biggest events of the year (100+ kids. An all-night traveling lock-out). Erin isn't planning on going, nor am I. But we figure from an administrative perspective, if we can plan to be around, we probably should. So, Monday it is. Erin is a little bummed - she was really hoping to experience that "it's time!" moment of heading to the hospital on our own (READ: Foreshadowing). The Baby Doc asks us to come back on Thursday for one more check...
Thursday, March 4th
We're back in the Baby Doc's office and - wouldn't you know it - no change. Monday continues to look like the day. On the way home, we talk about Late Night with Young Life and decide that I'll probably go for some of it and Erin may even come for a while...
Friday, March 5th - 7:30am
Erin wakes up to her phone ringing. It's the Baby Doc. He wants Erin to come in this morning and get an ultrasound to check her amniotic fluid. Since she's now 41-weeks, he just wants to make sure that the baby will be good to go until Monday. An 11am appointment is set. We debate on whether I should join or not (at this point, I've decided I'm all in for Late Night). I go. We hang out in the doctor's office and get an ultrasound. When our doctor sees the results he looks right at us and says, "So, you guys ready to have this baby." "Yep, we can't wait for him to get here," we answer casually. "All right, let's go," he says.
"Oh, you're serious?" Erin asks
"Yep, you're fluids are a little low and I don't think I'd feel great about waiting until Monday. I'm walking over there now actually, you guys can just follow me. Devon, where did you park the car? Is it -"
"Whoa, doc. Can we huddle up here for a minute?" I say, heart racing. "I mean, I don't have any of our stuff or anything."
"No problem, Devon you can go ahead and run on home to gather up everything you need. Erin, you can walk over with me and go ahead and get checked in."
So there it was - our "It's Time!" moment. We kiss, she leaves with the doctor, and I jump in the car. I'm completely frazzled. "Gotta get her bags...gotta PACK my bag...gotta hand off all of this Late Night stuff now."
An hour later, I'm walking into room 233 and it's go time
Checked in, ready to go, sending out the texts!
2:12pm
Our sweet friend, Diane, arrives. We're pumped. Diane is a labor and delivery nurse at Parkwest. From the beginning of all of this, Erin wanted Diane with her. Since everything happened so quickly, we hadn't texted her yet. Randomly, Diane shows up at the hospital off-duty just to check in with some folks and sees that Erin has been admitted. She goes home, gets her stuff, and comes back ready for a long night with us.
3:15pm
Water breaks. Game on.
Throughout the afternoon, our families arrived and the waiting game continued...
Waiting for our little man to be in here!
Laura and Sandy stopped by before going to Late Night
Waiting to meet her nephew...
Being patient
8:30pm
Late Night has officially kicked off. Biggest turn out we've ever had - 162 students from our two high schools. Including folks from Loudon County and Monroe County, it's the largest Late Night ever: 340+ kids. It was awesome to know that our Young Life leaders could handle the whole night on their own. They were rockstars.
March 6th, 2:20am
I can't sleep. Yes, I'm super-anxious but also Erin's blood pressure sleeve takes a reading every 15 minutes - yikes. Good news though - I realized that Cameron will share a birthday with the following people:
3:00am
The doctor comes into to check on Erin. It's been 12 hours since her water broke and no progress. He tells us that he's going to come back at 6:00 and if there's been no change he think we ought to do a C-Section
6:00am
C-Section it is. These next two hours or so filled with different emotions that its probably best if we let these pictures do the talking...
So, March 6th, 7:00am - Cameron Thomas Accardi is born.
Lots of visitors over the next few days...
So now we're home and we can't get enough of him. He has been such a blessing to us!
More updates to come!
