Callie Grace's Birth Story

Our Callie Grace is here and we are so blessed to have her as a part of our family. Monday morning Patrick and I had a huge burst of energy. I think we were nesting! He even painted the inside of the medicine cabinet! We picked up Josh from the airport around noon. We had a relaxing lunch of McDonalds...so delicious and such a treat! Then, Patrick wanted to take Josh to the woods to pick some ferns, he knew he would like gathering "survival food". As much as I wanted to go, I was exhausted, more so than normal, so I stayed home with Silas and we both took a good nap. We had a great evening of more relaxing, eating, hearing all about Josh's trip, and playing games together.



All Monday night and Tuesday morning Silas had a difficult time sleeping. I ended up putting Josh in my bed and me and Silas took Josh's bed. Silas slept off and on and so did I. He was up for good at 5:30, so I decided to make some homemade zucchini muffins for breakfast. They were very moist, and I think I have a new recipe to add to my box! We all ate and got ready for school and then.....my water broke! I told Patrick, then, called my Mom and cried. I wanted her with me and I knew she wanted to be here also (she wasn't scheduled to arrive until the 14th) Then, after I hung up I started to think how even though I was disappointed she would miss the birth, I was excited that I could be a little more on my feet while she's here and enjoy her even more! The Lord gave me peace about His timing, and I was looking forward to my babies arrival. I called the birth center and learned my midwife was at another birth. That was okay, my friend and interpreter, Estelle was ready. An English speaking midwife that might be able to attend the birth called me back and said we'll stay in touch through the day and labor should begin soon. She did let me know that I had to begin active labor by 8:30 the next morning or I would have to be transferred to a hospital. We began to pray the Lord would let me go into labor naturally and we could have a homebirth.




We canceled classes and the waiting game began. I tried to talk Patrick into going to walk at the mall, but he was a little (actually a lot) too nervous to do that. We sat on my new swing, let the kids play and enjoyed a gorgeous day. The midwife said to alternate rest with activity. The truth is I was already exhausted! We took walks together, made sure the house was ready, called family, walked some more....nothing. At 2:30 we headed to the Birth Center. The alternate midwife checked me and I was dialated to a 0. I couldn't believe it! A zero! She gave me a homeopathic remedy to put under my tongue and a bottle of tinctures to take every 15 minutes. These for sure would start labor! Well....by 5:30, nothing! So, I told Patrick we could have a long night, he should take a nap and me and the kids were going for a long walk. The tulips were so gorgeous on our walk! When I got back, my midwife called! Yay!! She was done with her other birth and was repacking her bags to be able to attend the birth of our baby. She recommended two things, Castor Oil (Yuck!) and a good nap. So, I did both. At 10:30 after everyone was in bed and I was just waking from my nap, we heard a knock on the door, my midwife decided to go ahead and come and stay the night with us in hopes that baby would be more encouraged to come.





After she set up tons of "just in case" birthing stuff, she checked me at 11:50pm. I was a 2. I told Patrick that we should have it in our heads that maybe we'll deliver at the hospital. Then, we all decided to get some rest, there really wasn't anything left for us to do.



At 12:15, after just falling asleep, I woke up with a good contraction, then 5 mins later another, then another. Patrick went and woke up Monique (our midwife) and things took off with a bang! Contractions were 2-5 minutes apart with some on top of each other. I really had no relief and they were constant. It's funny because in between one contraction I smelled Chocolate Chip Cookies! Weird! I kept thinking during the labor, that this could be our last baby and even though labor is horrible and no fun, I wanted to remember this moment and remember our baby would soon be here. Our lives were about to once again change drastically. After only a short time, I knew the baby was coming. I was sitting on the side of the bed and I don't think the midwife really believed baby was coming. Patrick said he knew when I said that, that it was time. Our baby girl came minutes after.

At 1:20am Callie Grace entered into our world! I told Patrick to run wake up the kids. When he went into their rooms, Josh had just woken up and had woke up the girls, too. They were able to see their sister within minutes of her birth. It was so amazing! They were so excited that we had a baby girl.

Callie has dark hair, not as much as Brenna had, and a little darker than what Beth had.

Within minutes, we called my Mom and were turned on Skype. She was able to meet Callie Grace right away and then my Dad woke up and saw her, too. It was so amazing that even though we are so far away I could still share this moment with my parents. Thank you, Lord for this, it made a wonderful, joyous occasion even better. I am so blessed!

This is our midwife, Monique Paré. She was very good and calming and knew her stuff! Callie Grace weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz. Our smallest baby by far! Josh was 8lbs. 14 oz, Elisabeth 9lbs, Brenna 9lbs. 2 oz., and Silas was 8 lbs. 13 oz. Callie seems so tiny!

At 4:30am our midwife left, and we were on our own. I was already sleeping, so Patrick climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly. The next morning, bright and early at 5:30 Silas woke up! Poor Patrick! We introduced him to his new sister.

He smiled at her and held her hand. He did very well! Since then, he's had a few bouts of jealousy, but now he seems happy to have baby Callie with us. He's very gentle and loves to give her kisses. He doesn't like to see her cry and wants to kiss her to help her feel better. He's going to be just like Josh, a sweet big brother.

Welcome to our family, Miss Callie Grace, we love you!