Belle in Minnesota: our Cal

I've wanted to write down Cal's birth story, so here's my attempt at getting it down somewhere before I really forget all the little details. Our precious little guy will be 5 months old in a few days. I cannot believe that all this was nearly half a year ago now!

Well, I’d never been pregnant before past 35.5 weeks (since the twins came then!), so with Cal he really did chart new territory. Overall I was more nauseous early in the first trimester and pretty uncomfortable in the last month, but everything in between was great. Cal moved around so much more than the twins because he had all the space to himself!

After 36 weeks came and each subsequent week, I was a little surprised he was still in there! I just kept scheduling normal life things always a little unsure if they would happen, but they did. We even planned to have dinner at some good friends’ house the night of my due date.

Now, a week or two before my due date I’d woke up with some (later I realized were Braxton-Hicks) contractions. They were a little regular but stopped after maybe 30 minutes to and hour. At this point I was going to my OB every week. I still wasn’t dilated at all! Nothing.

I’d also been having contractions faintly on-and-off the day before my due date, November 20. I had an appointment the next day (on my due date) and my OB said I was barely 3cm. She proceeded to strip my membranes, which for some can jump start labor. I was a little crampy (which is supposed to be a good sign) but honestly had gotten used to the contractions. So that night we packed up the twins and headed 30 minutes north to see our friends. It was a really fun night and a delicious meal. In the car on the way back I was starting to get more uncomfortable. Sitting started to be more and more painful during contractions. When we got home we started doing our normal bedtime routine for the big boys, but I couldn’t even sit down while Andrew was reading them their bedtime stories. I was starting to think that this was it- that or I was going a little crazy from wanting this baby to come.

An hour or so later, Andrew called some friends of ours to come over and watch the boys. They were out to dinner a little while away so it was about an hour before they got there. It was around 11pm by this point. I was in pain by this time and sounded pretty over dramatic Im sure! Anyway, as soon as our friends pulled into the driveway to stay the night with G + J, we were nearly down the street. Thank goodness!

We got to the hospital just before 11:30, which thankfully was before the triage maternity ward closed their front window. They gave us some paperwork but when they saw me get out of the wheelchair leaning over and breathing heavily, they said told us to go ahead to a room. Thank you, people!

After a while of laboring in the room, I was checked again and I was only 3cm! I was thinking how my pain tolerance most be the lowest ever! But thankfully my water broke a minute later and that signaled that I could get my epidural. Again, thank you, Lord! As an aside, I have said many prayers of thanks for that epidural.

My contractions were strong, close together and painful. Even with the epidural I could feel them though without pain. An hour later (maybe around 2) I was 6cm. An hour later I was 10cm. They wanted me to wait another hour or so, but after maybe 20-30 minutes I felt like I couldn’t keep our sweet boy in much longer.

So in a nutshell the doctor came in said, “Yep, he’s coming soon!” and after 12 minutes of pushing our little man arrived! It was incredible! Compared to the sterile C-section I’d had with the twins, this felt like such an intimate celebration of a new life! Cal was healthy and those first moments with him were beyond amazing.

The next afternoon I was checking out of the hospital. Cal was a DREAM newborn! Though lets be honest, preemie, colicky twins who were in the NICU for a week and a half, set Callum up to be easy compared to his big brothers!

Also, we chose Cal’s name 2 days before he was born! Andrew had heard the name Callum while we were in England last summer and he really liked it. It grew on me, but then I continued wanting a more traditional name, though I did love the nickname Cal. Eventually we chose Callum Noah for this boy. Callum means “dove,” a symbol of peace. It originates from St. Cloumba, a Scot who brought the gospel to Ireland about 1500 years ago. Noah was the name Andrew's Mimi originally wanted give him. And in the Bible Noah was deemed a righteous man by God and means “rest.” Our Cal has lived up to his peaceful/restful name! He has been more than a joy to have in our family! We also pray for our sweet boy to have the peace in his heart that only comes from knowing Christ and though things around his may seem chaotic (like at our house) that he'd be at rest.

Here are some pictures of Cal in his first several months of life!