Norman, OK | C-SECTION | Baby A

During our FaceTime call, Sarah told me about how little 8 year old Shawn had said some day he was going to have a daughter named Ava Ray. I have no idea how he knew that at 8 years old, but he was right.

Thanks to a friend that I’ve done Birth Stories for in the past, Sarah got my information and reached out to see if I was available on May 7 at 8:30am. Her cesarean was scheduled for that time, and then she figured her son would be there around 10:30/11:00 to meet his little sister. Yup, that timeline sounded excellent and do-able.

I would be shooting at Norman Regional, a place I had never been before. On the morning of May 7, I thought I had left Duncan in plenty of time. Then I hit traffic after a small re-route on my map. At 8:02am, I was parked but felt just the smallest bit of panic as I hustled inside to try and find the right room. With an 8:30am start time, I knew I would be cutting it really close. After a few trips up and down the wrong halls, I made it to Sarah’s room - with 10 minutes to spare.

It would prove to be ironic that I was concerned about missing this birth.

Accompanying Sarah in the small triage room was Shawn, her husband, and Tish and Shane, her babies’ god-parents. Her nurse came in when I got there and let us know that the anesthesiologist had been called to do 3 edpirurals before he would be available for Sarah. So it would not be 8:30am, but maybe 9:30am? No problem, we used that time to take a few last minute belly pics. Then Sarah entertained us all with some stories.

9:30am came and went. 2 more edpiruals were added to the anesthesiologists’ plate. But that was okay! Surely it would be soon. At this point I went and ate a small breakfast in the cafeteria, as did Shawn and Shane.

At 9:53am the anesthesiologists came it to introduce himself and said he was ready for her! Yay!

Her nurse called the OR nurse to make sure Sarah’s doctor was also ready. Ope, the doctor was not. She had started another procedure because the anesthesiologists was busy.

That’s okay! Probably just another 30 minutes to an hour.

10:30am. 11:30am. 12:30am! Do you know how many topics of conversation you can cover in 4 hours? (Being a people person myself, I really enjoyed learning so much about everyone in the room.) Then we got an update - the doctor was finished with the procedure that she started. It had taken a little longer than expected. Sarah was next!

…except that one of the Mommas that had the epidural at 8:30am was now in the pushing part of her labor. Sarah would have to wait some more.

This time, we could all watch the monitor for the room number the other mom was in. (Rest assured, we did not know the identities of any of these other moms, nor did we even know where their room was.) After waiting for as long as we did with an unknown end to the wait, having a green line to watch turned out to be most riveting.

We saw when the other mom delivered her baby per the activity of the green line, and sure enough, soon after that Sarah’s nurse said it was finally time!

Tish and Shane left to take the personal items to the room where they would stay after the baby, and Sarah ingenioulsy put her hair up with the wrist band of a surgical glove so it could more easily fit inside the scrub hat.

At 1:48pm, Mom was being wheeled to the OR. At 2:06pm, Dad and I joined her.

And at 2:14pm, Ava Ray was born.

Dad held baby’s finger and watched the nurses take loving care of her. They did her footprints on the birth certificate (with baby-safe, very washable ink), and then but her little footprints on Dad’s scrub shirt pocket. I thought that was adorable.

Sarah watched. Happy to see her baby. Happy to she her husband meet someone he’s known about since he was 8. Then she got her skin-to-skin time.

A few more baby checks, then it was Dad’s turn to hold her.

Norman Regional is a big hospital, so after the birth, we had to ride the elevator up to a regular room. I can attest that Ava Ray thoroughly enjoyed that ride!

Tish and Shane (Grandma and Gampa) were in the room waiting for us. They were immediately enamored.

The lactation consultant came in, and the baby’s doctor. Sarah worked on eating just a bit to get some energy back, while Grandma and Gampa went to get Big Brother, Declan.

Declan was so excited to see his mom! He giggled at the ‘emoji lights’ on the floor under the foot of Mom’s bed. He was amazed at his new tiny, little sister! And he was thrilled about the third story view from the giant window.

A few more visitors came in to say hi and meet baby Ava Ray. Two of which were Brennan and Briar, whom I also got to meet on their Birth Days. Seeing them hold Ava Ray was a circle of life moment for me if there every was one. Their Mom, Ashley, was the one who recommended me to Sarah and Shawn, and I’m so grateful for that.

I left the hospital much later than thought I would on May 7, but I had not one bother to give about it.

Because, Ava Ray, baby girl and little sister, was worth all the anticipation.