"Thank you for coming right away, Raj," Amy thanked their friend before reaching out to hug Max. "Come here. I love you. We'll try to keep you updated as much as possible. I think your little sister might be here before dinner."
Max returned Amy's hug. "I love you. Let me know the minute she's here. Can I call everyone and tell them she's here?"
"We'll think about it," Sheldon answered, noting Amy was having another contraction. Once Amy relaxed, he placed his hand on her lower back. "Let's get you to the car while you're between contractions." Raj and Max stood on the porch, watching Sheldon help Amy get in the car before he returned to the porch. "I'll text you when they say it's time for her to start pushing and you can bring Max down to the hospital. You'll most likely be there before Kathryn's born, or fairly soon after, depending on how long the pushing takes. The same thing if she has to have a C-section. I'll let you know when they make that decision so Max can be there to meet Kathryn as soon as possible."
"Sounds like a plan," Raj agreed. "Now get out of here and go have a baby."
Sheldon was halfway back to the car when Max ran after him, "Dad! Wait!" Sheldon stopped and turned around as Max threw his arms around him. "I love you. Tell mom for me again."
"I love you, too. Now, we really need to go because I do not want your little sister born in the front seat of my car," Sheldon returned the hug and quickly released his arms from around the twelve-year-old.
Six hours later, Raj and Max were in the middle of a rather intense game of Monopoly when Raj's phone rang, he looked at it and saw it was Sheldon. "It's your dad. You can answer if you want," he said while holding the phone across the table.
"Hi, Dad," Max excitedly answered the phone. "Really? I'll tell Raj. Tell mom to wait until I get there." He ended the call and passed the phone back to Raj. "Dad said Kathryn's really close to being born and we should go to the hospital. He said he's going to text you what Mom's room number is, but we're supposed to stay in the waiting room until he tells us they're ready."
Raj stood from the table. "We can leave the game out and continue later. Once Sheldon tells us that Kathryn's here and it's okay for you to come to meet her, I'll stay in the waiting room. You should be able to meet her first. I'm sure your parents will want some time just the four of you before they get a bunch of visitors."
"Okay. I just need to get something from my room," Max ran up the stairs and quickly returned with his backpack slung over his shoulder.
Across town, Sheldon was trying his best to encourage Amy through the birth of their daughter. "You can do this. Only a few more pushes and she'll be here."
Amy let out a moan, tired after having been pushing for some time. "I'm so tired. I don't think I can do this anymore."
"You've got this Amy. She is right there. One more big push and her head will be out," the doctor shared. "She's got a full head of hair. Give it all you've got and you'll be holding your daughter in two minutes."
"She's beautiful, Amy," Sheldon began to tear up watching the doctor put their daughter on Amy's chest after she mustered the energy for the last pushes she needed. "I didn't know it was possible to love someone this much without even seeing their face." He placed a kiss on Amy's forehead while she wrapped her arms around the newborn.
The doctor gave them a little time with their new daughter before saying anything, "Okay, Amy. The nurse is going to take her to clean her up and give her a quick check-up. You can have her back in a few minutes."
Sheldon watched as the nurse took the infant to the bassinet across the room. The sound of Amy's voice pulled him from his trance. "Go with her. They've got to get me cleaned up, too. You won't be missing anything over here while you're with her."
"I let Raj know Kathryn is here and we're ready for Max to come in," Sheldon shared an hour later, once Amy and Kathryn had been cleaned up and Amy was relaxing in bed with their daughter in her arms. "He said Max has been asking since they got here when he could see Kathryn. Raj isn't going to come in until we say we're ready for other visitors."
As if on cue, Max knocked on the door, imitating Sheldon's signature three knocks, but calling out "Kathryn" between each knock. Sheldon opened the door to let their son into the room. "Where is she?" the boy asked without saying hello to the physicist.
"She's right here," Amy answered, slightly lifting the bundle in her arms for Max to see she was holding something. Max rushed to stand next to the bed and Amy adjusted the blanket wrapped around the newborn for Max to get a better look. "Max, this is Kathryn. Kathryn, your big brother has been very excited to meet you."
"She looks like me," commented Max after staring at his new sister for a minute. "I wasn't sure if this would be okay, but I brought something for her." He shifted to remove his backpack from his shoulder and unzipped it to remove a stuffed monkey.
Sheldon was watching this interaction and immediately recognized the toy in Max's hand. "You can't give Kathryn your Spock monkey," he tried to stop him from tucking the monkey into Amy's arms next to his new sister.
"It's not my Spock. It's Kathryn's Spock, or whatever she decides to call it when she's old enough to decide for herself. I asked Bernadette and Howard if they could get one for me the last time they took Halley and Michael to the zoo. I paid for it with some of my birthday money."
Putting her free arm out, Amy pulled the twelve-year-old close to her. "That's so sweet of you. I'm sure she's going to love it."
"Can I hold her?" Max hesitated as he asked.
"Sure," Amy nodded while shifting in the bed. "Sit by me."
Sheldon was leaning over his family when a nurse knocked on the open door. "Just checking how everything's going in here. This must be the new big brother. Would you like a first family photo?" Sheldon nodded and passed her his phone. The nurse quickly snapped a picture before returning the phone. "I'll leave you alone for now. Just call if you need anything."
"I'm going to send this to everyone to let them know Kathryn's here and they can visit after dinner. That should give us a little while before they start to show up," Sheldon thought out loud while looking at his phone.
Kathryn's finally here! I'm on vacation for the next week and a half, so I won't be updating until the end of next week. I'm going to Seattle & taking the train to LA, where I'm going on the Warner Brothers tour, just so I can sit in Sheldon's spot. I've got several chapters ready to go, but the train trip is 35 hours, so I'm hoping to get a few more chapters written on the train, in between enjoying the views.
