Cali's Birth Story

*Very very long--only for those who like the details--slideshow to come soon of more pics.

In order to properly tell this story, I need to rewind a little bit. Cali was due May 14th, but with Matthew and Alyssa coming 3 weeks early, I expected her to be about the same. Hoped. I feared it would go past that time frame, but I geared up for it just in case. We went to California at the end of March and when we came home, I went right to work getting our house in order and organized (some know this as nesting). I had a free service house cleaning, and that was done the first week in April. It felt so great around here. On Easter (April 12th) I had Michael get baby clothes out of the attic. I cleaned them and worked to try to get stains out of some of them. I was all ready. Ready for my baby to arrive.

On Thursday the 16th, I went to my OB for my 36 week appointment. The week before, I wasn’t even dilated, and since my doctor was still in surgery, I went to see another doctor in the practice, Dr. Maunder. He was nice, but after the nurse took my blood pressure twice, he said he wanted me to relax a few minutes in the room and they’d take it again (the bottom number, was 94—he said he wanted it below 90). I said soothing things to myself and tried to relax (I didn’t feel over worked). They came back and the number was 90. He told me if it didn’t get below 90, he’d send me next door to the hospital to be monitored—myself and the baby. He left once more for a few minutes and came back and it was still 90. So he wanted me to check in the hospital. I was a bit annoyed because it was just 1 point away from not having to do that. On the way out of the office, I ran into my doctor, Dr. Fitzpatrick, and I said (probably in a whiny voice) “Do I really have to go???” To which he seemed to slightly want to side with me, but felt he should side with his colleague, and said I should go. So I got in the car crying, mostly because I figured it’d be another $1000 out of pocket we’d be paying. Long story, we have insurance, but we are self paying for the delivery of the baby and will get re-emburessed SOME, we just aren’t sure how much yet. I called my friend Jackie to pick up Alyssa at pre- school and she said she’d bring her home. It was only noon, I thought I’d be out to pick up the boys at 3 at school.

I called Michael and I called my brother (who is in medical school) to ask their advice—should I really check in? Is it really a big deal, that 1 point. I went to HEB to use their BP machine and checked a few times and after calming down, I decided to just go. I checked in, and was there for the next 5 hours having my blood pressure monitored. The boys got picked up and went to join Alyssa at Jackie’s house. Michael did say he could come be with me, but I didn’t see a reason to have him sit there. His job is the sort of job where others depend on him, so I really have to analyze when it’s important for him to leave.

Being monitored was very uncomfortable. First on my back (with a big pregnant belly) then they had me on my side. Luckily there was a TV to watch, unluckily, watching that TV from an awkward position all day kinked my neck. So much so that it was the main source of my pain after labor and delivery the next day. Throughout those 5 hours, my BP was up and down and all over the place. At one point when I asked the nurse what would happen, she said either 2 things for sure: I’d be on bedrest or the doctor would induce tomorrow. I realized it was the 17th of April and I got really excited about that idea (because I love 7’s) but I tried not to let myself get excited because I figured he wouldn’t induce that early. Dr. Fitzpatrick (my OB) came to check on me towards the end of the day and said if I took this blood pressure thing seriously and promised to lay down—only to get up to go to the bathroom and shower—he’d let me go home on bedrest. If I couldn’t do it, he’d keep me in the hospital being monitored. So I said I could do it—with a smile. And he said he was serious and I needed to be serious, etc. High blood pressure leads to seizures and stroke, so that helped me take it seriously. He said he scheduled an induction for Wed. the 22nd of April, then I’d be considered full term at 37 weeks. Plus, he knew my 37 week babies were 8 pounds. I promised, he let me go.

At that point, 6pm, Michael already got the kids and was home making dinner. I walked through the door and he pointed to our bedroom to go lay down. I laid on the couch, so I could still chat with the fam, and he said “It’s bedrest, not couchrest” and I said the Doc said I could be on the couch.

Of course I got up during the night every hour to empty my squished bladder. I remember waking up at 5:45am, and thinking to myself “I don’t have to pee, I can roll over and go back to sleep.” Then in my conscious state, I felt liquid. I knew it couldn’t be pee, because I just told myself I didn’t need to go. It wasn’t a ton, but I knew—it was my water breaking. I went to the bathroom and not much more came out. I went to lay down again and just stared at the ceiling. Somewhat questioning myself, but mostly knowing—this was it! A friend of mine asked if I excitedly woke Michael up at that point, but I didn’t. I knew his alarm would go off in about 15 minutes, and I wanted him to get all of the rest that he could. So I laid there….and I sneezed…and another gush came out. Ok, this is really it. I didn’t feel any contractions along with it, so I just got up, wrapped a towel around myself, and thought I’d jump on the computer. I updated my facebook, and did a few other things. (I wasn't fully clothed here, so I put a little cover on me in photoshop)

Then I kinda organized my hospital bag, but really just got my camera and such ready. I mean—what else do you really need? I did plug in my flat iron and spiff up my hair a little bit. I went to sleep with it wet and it was all over the place. Like I said, no contractions, no pain, so I just roamed around doing a few things. I was in the bathroom straightening my hair when I heard Michael’s alarm went off. I peeked out the door and said, “come here, I gotta tell you something.” When he came in, I excitedly said, “I think my water broke.” And he just opened his eyes a bit wider and stumbled into the bathroom. He was still a bit groggy. He wondered if he should call and say he wasn’t coming to work, but I said to wait until I talked to the doctor. In that state, we don’t all think clearly and I wanted to double verify that with my water breaking and no contractions, we should plan to come in. I called the on call doctor about about 6:45am and she said I should come in the next hour or two. I started to feel very minor contractions after that.

When we woke the kids, we told them we would probably have the baby that day.

They were so cute and excited and hugged my tummy and told it goodbye.


We sat down for breakfast and just chatted about how fun it would be when the baby comes.

We took the kids to school and it was pouring rain. Alyssa went to play with her friend Ashlee for the day. We got to the hospital (which is literally a mile away) at about 7:45am, still raining, as it did all morning in the dark sky. At one point I saw there was a tornado warning in the area on tv. (Hospital behind me here)

The labor and delivery nurse directed me to the gowns, etc. and wanted to verify that it was, indeed, amniotic fluid. After that confirmation, I was officially admitted just a bit after 8am.


Michael was sent to fill out some paperwork and I got my IV, etc. I’d felt mild contractions for a bit at that point, and they weren’t too uncomfortable yet. My doctor came in about 8:30 and told me he was actually somewhat relieved that I went into labor because he didn’t think I’d do well on bed rest. Thanks for the confidence, doc. He was bummed that he was flying out of town in an hour, and that another doctor would deliver me, but it doesn’t really bother me. I’ve always said, it doesn’t matter who your doctor is, it’s the nurses you get that make your labor and delivery what it is. I told him I planned to get an epidural (I pre-paid for that as well) and he said we might as well get started on that. I didn’t argue. Within the hour, the anesthesiologist came in, and I was starting to feel more pain from the contractions. Getting that epidural in is so uncomfortable. Not fun. Once it was in and the meds kicked in, they gave me a small dose of pitocin. The nurse then said (around 9:30am) “I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours.” To which I thought, “CHECK on me in a few hours, I plan to have this baby in a few hours.” I was slightly discouraged that we were in for a long day of waiting. I was only 3 cm dilated.

A little after 10am, Michael was reading a book and I was back and forth watching the TV and making calls to people to pass the time. I’d feel pressure and say to Michael, “was that a contraction?” To which he’d look at the monitor and confirm.

I think I was 4cm dilated about now. They were still monitoring my blood pressure, but it seemed to be just fine throughout my labor. Around 10:45am, I was starting to feel the cramping from the contractions and pushed my little medicator button to give me more meds. It didn’t seem to kick in that quickly.

I still thought I had a long way to go.

Rewinding a little, I called my friend Julie at around 8:30am to tell her we were admitted to the hospital and would have the baby that day. She is a friend in my ward at church who has become quite the photographer hobbyist—yet not wanting to start a business. I’ve had fun talking lenses and photoshop with her. We swapped taking each others’ family pictures at Christmas time. I asked her a month ago if she would be willing to photograph my delivery. Nothing gory (I know that is what you all are thinking) but the before and after emotion of it all. She agreed, and I’d send her slideshows I’d seen that other photographers had done for births. She had just told me the Sunday before that her mom was coming into town on the 21st of April and would stay indefinitely, just so she could leave at a moments notice to come to my delivery. Wow, that was very nice. When I talked to Julie on Tuesday (the 14th), she told me she would have a very busy week and hopefully I wouldn’t go into labor that week. So when I called at 8:30, I left a message on her home machine telling her I didn’t want her to stress about it, but if she was available, I’d love for her to come. I didn’t think she would.

At 11am, Julie sweeps into the delivery room with all her camera gear. I was SOOO excited! I could not believe it, I really was planning and preparing myself for no birth pictures, and was ok with it. She hadn’t even called, just packed up and came. She literally lives about 2 blocks from the hospital and was able to call someone to take her 2 younger kids, so she was available for us. I was just in shock and excited. Then I felt bad she may have been there way too early because I was progressing slowly.

At this point, I felt more contractions and they were uncomfortable (with the epidural) and Michael said they were coming 2 minutes apart for over a minute.
(this face is not one of a fully functioning epidural)

I love this shot of our hands--you can even see the time on his watch


We called the nurse, she checked me, and said I was fully dilated, and called for the doctor and staff to come in. I was moaning and gripping the side rail through each contraction.


Not what I’d hoped for an epidural, but I had to remind myself that it had to be taking away SOME of the pain, so was glad for that. Julie was off to the side, just snapping away. I tried to forget she was there, but I did have Michael come to squeeze my OTHER hand so she could have better access to both of our faces. She was on a bench in the back of the room on one side, and wouldn’t be able to see from the other side, so Michael had to move. Then he was on the side of the IV and didn’t want to squeeze too hard. Michael thought it was more than I needed to think about at that point in time, but it was important to me. It was funny.


Before the doctor arrived, the nurse asked me to do a little push just to get the baby down lower. I pushed, and they told me to stop.


The baby was right there. Dr. Michel was the doctor on call. I had just met her that morning. I was staring at the ceiling (stirrups and all) and Michael said it was funny to watch the hustle and bustle of everyone hurriedly getting ready for delivery. I guess that small dose of pitocin helped labor along quite nicely. Julie came at the perfect time, after all.

When the doctor was all ready, they told me to resume my push and with one big push, her head was out, and the rest just glided out. That is an amazing feeling. 11:24 am, she weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches long. Julie captured the greatest first picture, still in the doctors hands, little Cali greeting the world (first image in the previous post). I got to hold her, a little purplish, but she pinked right up. Michael cut the cord, and we got to cuddle.

Eventually, they weighed her, did all that Apgar stuff (she was 8-9) and gave her back to us to have our alone time. Everyone left and Julie took some pictures of just the 3 of us. ( Here I am watching the baby get weighed).


Julie in action (taken by Michael)


It never even occurred to me that there would be any ramifications from her being 4 weeks early. To us, she was only a week early because we expected her the next week as her 2 previous siblings had done.

We just stared at her and enjoyed the newness. Her eyes were wide open, it was so sweet. Julie took more pictures, then told her we were good. She was only there an hour total, but it was just the perfect amount of time to capture the before and after of labor and delivery. I am so grateful to her for this gift. And so grateful that everything fell into place so that she could be there.
So happy to have my baby in my arms, and with the lucky date of April 17th, and not to mention...I got out of 4 weeks of pregnancy (and 5 days of bedrest)!