Cal’s birth was one of the most special, amazing experiences that we’ve experienced! When I got pregnant, my due date was a bit confusing. There was the due date based on my last missed period, but I knew I had ovulated late, so there was also the due date based on the dating ultrasound. 

Both of my older kids came exactly at 38 weeks and 1 day, weighing in at six and a half pounds each. So, I was pretty prepared to have another baby two weeks early, which would have put me right around Christmas Eve. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Starting about a week before Christmas, I began losing my mucus plug and was dilated to a two. Everyone, including my midwife, was a bit worried about me going into labor over Christmas, so I was told to stop working out (hilarious now looking back).

We Made It Through Christmas

Christmas came and went, and we as a family hunkered down and skipped New Year’s parties because we were sure he was going to be coming any day now and didn’t want to risk getting sick during COVID.

But then…we made it through New Year’s. I was honestly pretty shocked because that put me right around 39 weeks pregnant (the most pregnant I have ever been). Then, when I went to my appointment with my midwife, my blood pressure was really elevated and I was dilated to a four.

In order to prevent an induction and me having to go to the hospital due to my blood pressure randomly skyrocketing, my midwife decided to strip my membranes. She figured I was already in labor, and that this would put me into labor within the next 24 hours or so.

We Did Not Go Into Labor In The Next 24 Hours

Welp, it didn’t work. Though I was losing lots and lots of my mucus plug, there were zero contractions. I did everything (AND I MEAN EVERYTHING) to try and naturally induce labor, but it didn’t work.

48 hours later, there were still no contractions. How you’re dilated to a four, lost your mucus plug, and experienced the whole bloody show without actually going into labor, I have no idea.

Spoiler alert: If you’re planning on your water breaking, maybe don’t wear period panties.

Well, about 60 hours after getting my membranes stripped, I decided to go to bed and insert evening primrose oil like I had the last week or so. Because the oil is a bit messy, I decided to wear my period underwear. I go to sleep around 11:30, and at about 1:30 in the morning on January 7th, I wake up with a strong urge to pee.

As I stand up, I feel the oil leak out, but the underwear does its job and soaks it all up. (Seriously shout out to this underwear. You know you want them now, haha. Click here to buy them on Amazon.) I remember thinking, “Wow, that was a lot of oil.” (Joke’s on me, now.)

After using the bathroom, I lay back down, and have a contraction. I didn’t think much of it, but then another one came. And another. And that’s when I finally woke up enough to realize…that was definitely too much oil to have come from one capsule.

It was my water breaking. But because the underwear soaked it all up, and I haven’t had my water break naturally before, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. So, if you’re not sure how to tell whether or not your water broke, don’t wear period panties to bed in the third trimester, haha.

Timing The Contractions

I decided I should probably start timing contractions. The problem was, they were only like two minutes apart and lasted a minute each (which usually means baby is coming quickly). I woke up Ryan and told him to call his mom. Then, I called the midwife right about 2 AM. She told me that she’d meet me at the birthing center in an hour, which was perfect timing because that’s about how far Ryan’s mom was.

I kept timing the contractions, and sure enough, they were two to three minutes apart consistently, and they were lasting a minute long each. Not to mention, they killed. These were strong contractions. But, I feel like most women think they’re further along than they really are (like with my other two, I thought I was going to give birth right when getting to the hospital and I was actually dilated to a 7 with them). 

So, with this knowledge, I laid in bed next to my older two kids, and I tried to not think too much about the pain. With each contraction, I tried to focus my attention elsewhere. When they started getting really bad, I was using the back of my earring to push into the pad of my finger in hopes of distracting from the pain. (It didn’t really work, but a girl’s gotta try, right?)

Arriving At The Birthing Center

We got to the birthing center at 3:15 in the morning, and the midwife texted to tell me that she’d be there in 15 minutes. She got in right before 3:30, and Ryan helped me out of the truck and we walked into the birthing center.

My midwife started filling up the tub and then checked to see how dilated I was. However, the baby had already started to descend, and she looked at me shocked, saying, “We could have this baby in five minutes if you want.”

The Birth Of Cal

She asked me if I even wanted to get in the tub, and I told her I would rather push on the bed. We waited another ten minutes or so until the other midwife arrived, and then I turned on my camera and began pushing. The labor was fast, intense, and really painful, but I knew I was so close to meeting our little one!

When the midwife could see his head, I immediately asked, “Does he have hair?” to which she replied, “Yep, a lot of dark hair!” One more push and Cal was born at 4:11 in the morning, less than 45 minutes from walking into the birthing center. He was immediately placed on my chest where he started to cry, and Ryan and I got a good look at him.

He had a ton of hair, and I was so happy to finally have him in my arms – exactly on his due date from my last missed period. For the next 20 minutes or so, Ryan and I looked at Cal, he cut the cord, and I birthed the placenta. Then, my midwife and Ryan helped me and Cal get into the bath, where we washed his hair. He loved being in the warm water, and he immediately latched on to start eating.

We then got out of the bath, and Ryan and I laid down in the bed with Cal for the next hour, just getting to talk and snuggle with him. After this hour was up, my midwife came back in the room and weighed Cal, gave him the vitamin K shot, and got him dressed to go home.

Meeting His Big Brother & Sister

Because I gave birth at a birthing center, I legally only had to be kept for a couple of hours to ensure that no hemorrhaging happened for me and that no breathing issues occurred with Cal. So, at 6:30 in the morning, Ryan, Cal, and I headed back to our house, where the kids were still asleep. They actually slept through the whole ordeal, so Ryan and I took Cal into another room and napped until the kids woke up about an hour later.

Then, we surprised them! They came to say good morning to us, and we hid Cal from their sight until they got closer. Then, we showed him, and the kids were SHOCKED, haha. Lily immediately stopped talking and looks at him, then says, “That’s weird,” because she thought he was a baby doll. Easton said, “Awesome!”

They immediately laid down to snuggle him, and we got to spend some time as a family of five. It was such a fun (albeit, tiring) experience, and I hope the kids always remember being surprised by their little brother that morning! That’s my birth story of how Cal got to us!