Callen's Birth Story

When Rylan was born a week early, we were shocked. After all, Kaelyn & all her siblings were late and huge babies. But, the downside was that when we got closer to Cal’s due date, we had built an expectation that he would be early. And He was not.

Since he was a summer baby, our Indiana family members were planning to come meet him. But they eventually couldn’t push their departure any later and had to just come. Which undoubtedly made us desire some expedition on the process. Not to mention, Cal is an IVF baby (More one our IVF story here). In doing some research, we found many articles about how IVF babies can have placenta issues after 39 weeks, and we were sitting at 40+, and did we mention this was the summer when all the babies in Concord were born? When we were finally able to get an induction date, we woke up bright and early and called in just as we were told. They said, we’ll call you back later today because we don’t have a bed for you. We were very discouraged, but tried to go back to bed and get a little more rest.

We finally got a call that a bed was available around 1:30-2pm on Saturday, July 26 (7 days after Cal’s due date). Kaelyn took a quick shower and I threw everything we needed in the car so we could high tail it to Concord before someone else tried to have their baby and take our bed!

When we arrived, Kaelyn had to have a COVID test so we waited for a while in triage for the results before we could move to a room and get things rolling. We also met our doctor, who unfortunately was not even one of the normal OBs from our office, and let’s just say, his bedside manner did little to inspire our confidence in him.  They finally moved us to a room and started Pitocin around 5pm or so. Our nurse was nice and the doctor was fine at that point, but they just didn’t seem as concerned as we were, and were definitely not in as much of a hurry to help us meet this baby. So, instead we sat, waited and ordered dinner from the cafeteria. So different from Rylan because Kaelyn barely had time to get an epidural, never mind have food!

Enter our night nurse. That shift change was the best thing that happened to us! Our night nurse (I’ll refer to her as M, to protect her privacy) was the most down to earth, warm, competent, gentle angel sent straight from God to our room that night.

She introduced herself and said something to the effect of, “I heard we are hoping to meet this baby tonight.” And we immediately perked up. We asked if there was anything we could do to help move things along, and she so patiently stayed with us walking us through different positions/exercises we could do to move things along. She also, because she was an angel sent from God, moved the Pitocin dosage up a little quicker than her earlier counterpart. ;)

After getting up and moving for a while, our nurse checked and we decided now would be a good time for Kaelyn to get her epidural. The epidural was when everything went downhill.

The epidural was starting to take the edge off of the pain, and our doctor came in and checked everything. He had earlier mentioned breaking her water to move things along, but decided not to do that and left. Our warrior nurse still stood by Kaelyn’s side and explained her water may break soon on its own, and that because of the epidural she may not feel it, she may just feel warm.

No sooner had she said it, Kaelyn’s face changed and said, “Uh, I think my water just broke.” But that’s not what happened.

M checked and her water had not broken. It was just blood. Lots and lots of blood. I swallowed my fear, got up from the chair I was sitting in and went to Kaelyn’s side, and that’s where I stayed until Cal was born.

There is something traumatic and even triggering for us (due to our miscarriage between Rylan & Cal) when we see blood during a pregnancy. It is never a good sign. But there was no time to have those thoughts.

Steady & composed, M informed Kaelyn that there was some bleeding so she was going to have the doctor come in and check things out.

Around this time, the epidural also stopped working. Things were going from bad to worse, and our world seemed to be spinning out of control.

While Kaelyn was in excruciating pain, the doctor decided it was a good time to tell her all the terrible things that couldbe going on and what they may have to do, including, an emergency c-section or even emergency hysterectomy. He never once made eye contact with me. He just looked at Kaelyn, while she was in so much pain that she couldn’t even open her eyes to look at him.

They gave her oxygen since she had lost so much blood, broke her water, and the doctor went back to stand in the corner of the room and bro out with the anesthesiologist, as our angel, M, came back over to Kaelyn’s side and reassured her, she and Cal were both fine.  Thankfully, through it all, Cal’s heartbeat remained strong and steady.

Breaking her water moved things along quickly and intensely.  Just a little while later, the doctor examined Kaelyn again and decided it was time to push. Before we knew it, the room was full of medical professionals. Because we didn’t know the source of the bleeding yet, they brought in an extra nurse, a pediatrician and another medical assistant to check Cal out once he was born to make sure he was okay.

Kaelyn was amazing. There is something so incredible about how God designed childbirth. There is something innate in a woman that causes her body to do exactly what she needs to do. Several strong pushes and our boy was out. The pediatrician took him to examine him and Kaelyn and I breathed a sigh of relief. And shared a few tears.

After looking Cal over, they found that he was completely safe and healthy, and Kaelyn was able to do skin to skin with him about ten minutes after he was born.  The cause of bleeding was due to a rare issue called velamentous cord insertion, where his umbilical cord was attached to the edge of the placenta rather than the middle, and was beginning to separate. We are so thankful that it didn’t turn into anything more serious than it did!

Again, I repeat, Kaelyn was a warrior and our nurse, M, was a steady source of support to us! And in the end, we had Cal: our sweet, silly, adventurous boy. Our hands have been full in the best way since the moment he arrived!

Wanna hear Rylan’s birth story? Click here to check it out!

Newborn In Home Photos by Madison Rae Photography

Kaelyn & Tommy | Our Story Part 2: Dating & Engagement

The summer after our freshman year, we spent apart. I was a counselor at the Wilds of New England and Kaelyn was going to work at Camp Chetek in Wisconsin. After having some health issues, she ended up going home, but we still didn’t get to see each other that summer. We Facetimed and talked on the phone as often as we could, fanning the flame. 

Top Photo: 2012 MBU Graduation our freshman year (her choir sang, my sister graduated)

Middle Photos: Summer 2012 as a counselor at The Wilds of New England

Bottom Photo: Summer 2012 Kaelyn with her sister, while home for the summer

When we got back to school in the Fall, I wanted to ask her to officially be my girlfriend. Before I could do that, I needed to talk with her dad. I know, normal people only ask a dad for permission to marry his daughter, but it was a thing then, trust me. As much as I wanted to ask him in person, I couldn’t figure out how to talk to him alone without her getting suspicious. Somehow, I was able to get his number and called him. I think the call lasted 2 minutes. He was way too easy on me. (Asking him to marry her may have only been 3 minutes, no dowry convo or anything.)

When it came time to ask her to be my girlfriend, I wanted to include some of her favorite things. I knew she loved jewelry, so I bought her a necklace & bracelet to give her right before I asked her, as well as a picture frame for her to put the picture we would take that night. At MBU, we couldn’t go off campus alone for a date, so we got good at double dating. Our friends, Brittany & Aaron, were one of our favorite couples to double date with, so they were the natural choice to join us that night. 

It was the 15th of September, a perfect clean-cut, easy to remember date, which is exactly why I chose it. We drove up to Milwaukee and hung out by a river walk near the Milwaukee Art Museum. Then, Brittany & Aaron fell back as we went for a walk. There was this cool bridge that I had scouted out as a good place to ask her. When we got to the top of the bridge, I gave her the gift and asked her to be my girlfriend. Once again, she said yes and my heart exploded! How could I be so lucky!?

One of the things I learned about Kaelyn is that she loves surprises. Another thing that I learned, is that she is blissfully unaware when I’m trying to surprise her. It’s a pretty convenient combination if you ask me. 

It was the summer of 2014. She had joined me in New Hampshire so we could both work at The Wilds of New England. We had a great summer, although we didn’t see each other a lot during the week. She was a counselor and I was the videographer, so our schedules were pretty different. We had been ring shopping together before, so she was hoping that I would propose sometime during the summer. Honestly, I got the ring before she came for camp. I wanted to ask her right away so she wouldn’t have as much time to figure it out, but God had other plans. Some other events in our family made it necessary for me to wait a bit. 

I spy a little extra sparkle in one of the photos above. Can you find it?

Kaelyn is so sweet. She did her best to be patient and never complained to me. I did hear afterwards that the morning of the day I proposed, she was talking to one of her friends about how she was struggling to be patient because she really wanted to be engaged. Her friend teased her the next week that it must’ve been super hard to wait a few hours. 

We were busy on the campsite during the week, but did have the weekend off to spend together. That didn’t give me any time to scout out a location in person without her. I had been to the public docks in Meredith, NH along Lake Winnipesaukee and thought it would be a perfect spot. I did as much google maps stalking as I could and then had my parents Facetime me from the spot during the week as a virtual stake out. 

I had decided I didn’t want to tell Kaelyn I loved her until we got engaged. I wanted to be certain that I was going to marry her and she wanted to marry me before I said it. There was no Biblical reason or anything. I’m just weird. Looking back, it wouldn’t have been a big deal to tell her earlier. I just wasn’t sure when the right time would be. 

Anyways, she knew I wasn’t going to tell her until we got engaged so once I said I love you, I knew she’d be greasing up her ring finger. In order to give her the biggest surprise, I had written the words I love you on the bottom of three rubber ducky animals (one was a giraffe since that’s her favorite animal) and put them in a pail of water. My parents were able to get up there earlier and put the pail by a bench facing the lake. They also hid the ring box in a bag under the bench and stayed close to keep an eye on it. (They were the real MVPs!) They hid it for me on site, becuase I didn’t think I would be able to hide the ring box in my pocket without her noticing. Surprising her was the goal.

At the beginning of the summer, Kaelyn and I had talked about going on a few intentional dates. This was 1) something I knew we would both love and 2) an excuse to encourage her to dress up a tiny bit without coming out and telling her what we were doing. In previous conversations about getting engaged, she had told me that if at all posible she wanted some kind of heads up so she wasn’t dressed like a vagabond. Well, she didn’t use those exact words, but I digress.

It was July 12th, and we were up at my family’s campsite in Alton Bay. They all made excuses to go off and do different things. Of course, I understood that they were heading out to set up and get hidden. I asked Kaelyn if she’d like to go on a special date like we had talked about. She perked right up but remained totally oblivious to my plans. (insert evil laugh) I went and changed into an outfit I had bought special for the occasion- a blue & red gingham button down shirt and white shorts. I thought if I dressed up a bit, that would be another subtle hint for her to do the same. She took the hint and changed into a pair of jeans and a nice gray tank with an elephant on it. I’ll never forget it. She looked adorable, per usual.

We had a great time chatting as we drove along the lake. When we pulled into the parking lot at the docks, she was all giddy. My girl loves her some quality time. So she talked my ear off about all the things as we walked closer to the bench by the water. Still, totally oblivious. In contrast, my game face was on as I scanned the path for our spot. My parents & brother had everything set and were hiding nearby to get a video. Our sweet friend, Emma, was also hiding nearby to take some photos for us. 

We passed the bench to give Kaelyn the chance to finish her thought before I blew her mind. This made my parents panic for a minute, but it was fine. It was all under control. After circling back, we sat down on the bench looking out at the lake. It was the perfect day and she was the perfect girl.

I told her I had written her a little song that I wanted to sing for her. After doing so, I fished out the three little duckies and handed them to her. Before she read the message I wrote under them, I asked her to close her eyes. While her eyes were closed, I grabbed the ring and got down on one knee. When she opened her eyes, she read the words, I love you written on the bottom sides of the duckies. Then, I told her how much I loved her and asked her to marry me. She said yes!! We could hardly contain our excitement! She cried and I beamed! What an amazing memory!

Unlike a typical proposal, we actually didn’t kiss after we got engaged. Not because we didn’t want to or even that we hadn’t before. Earlier that summer, Kaelyn came down with mono. Our camp director teased us that if I got it, too, everyone would know we hadn’t been behaving ourselves. So, we waited until she was no longer contagious. Don’t worry, we made up for it when the time was right. Sorry, mom! 

After I popped the question, we took a moment to thank God for bringing us together, which was the signal to Emma that she could come out of hiding and take a couple more photos for us! Those photos are so full of the joy we felt in that exact moment! There were so many exciting moments to look forward to now as a couple! My parents and brother also came out of hiding to congratulate us.

Across the street there is a gorgeous little waterfall where we took a couple more photos before saying bye to everyone else. There was also a quaint restaurant where we could eat outside while listening to the gentle roar of the waterfall. So that’s exactly what we did. It was so fun to be alone reflecting on all the details of the day and the events leading up to it. A sweet couple next to us overheard that we just got engaged and even paid for our dinner! What a blessing! After we finished eating, we headed back to the dock to call Kaelyn’s family and let them in on our news. Finally, we leisurely strolled along the lake for a while, filling the air with the sounds of our gleeful laughter. 

Top 3 photos by Emma Catherine Photography

Kaelyn & Tommy | Our Story Part 1: How We Met & Our 1st Date

How We Met

This part of our story is fun because we don’t completely agree on all the details. Since, I’m the one writing it down, you get to hear my version.  

During our freshmen year at Maranatha Baptist University, I remember seeing Kaelyn around campus before we actually met. I didn’t know anything about her. All I knew was that she was absolutely gorgeous. Like, literally, the most perfect woman I had ever seen in my life. Unfortunately for me, I was not the only one who thought this. There were plenty of guys on campus that had their eyes on her, too. 

I didn’t think I had the slightest chance with her. She was a model and I was just a lanky nerd. My initial thought after seeing her was that she must be much older than me- maybe a Junior? Kaelyn is 5’10”, so super tall for a girl. Something about her height and how beautiful she was made me think she must be older. I also had another terribly cynical thought- if she’s that pretty, there’s no way she’s godly, too. Wow, obviously, I had a very immature view of God. (And maybe an unhealthy spiritual ego.) One way or another, God would “learn me.”

At MBU, when we went to eat at Dining Commons (DC), we put our ID card down at a table to save seats before getting our food. One day at lunch, I followed one of my soccer friends into the DC and he put his ID card down at the table and I saw Kaelyn’s ID card sitting there, too. I took this opportunity to put my ID card right next to her. Truthfully, I wasn’t best buds with this guy, but I wanted to meet Kaelyn, so it was a good enough excuse to squeeze myself in there.

When Kaelyn sat down next to me, I went into full-blown crazy person mode and she was actually laughing! What?? Good sign numero uno! But I still was going to have to fight off all those other guys who were vying for her affections. My plan was to play it cool and focus on being a good friend to her.

I remember there were lots of guys in her friend group who were not my biggest fans. I wondered if maybe they felt a bit threatened by me since Kaelyn and I were getting close. Let it be known, Kaelyn’s best friend was dating a football player at the time, so this friend group included a lot of football players. When I would hang out with Kaelyn and her friends, it was obvious that I was the odd man out. All these bulky football jocks, and me, the skinny soccer player. It was a bit intimidating, but she was worth it. I didn’t know if she liked me, but I did know we had fun together. I counted that as a win. 

Kaelyn and I would message each other on FB in the evenings and hang out from time to time, but we didn’t run into each other a ton. I was a business major; she was an education major, so we didn’t have a lot of overlap in classes. 

Towards the end of the Fall semester, the universities choirs would all put on a combined choir concert of Handel’s Messiah. My friends and I were talking to Kaelyn and her friends after the concert and asked them if they’d like to go bowling with us, and she said yes! We actually have pictures of this “group date,” which is so fun to look back on now! 

We had a blast!! I was super into her, but I had no idea what she was thinking, so I continued to play it cool- on the outside. On the inside, I was losing my mind, because I was so crazy about this girl!

As a result of the bowling group date, Kaelyn offered me her number. That’s right, your boy had so much game that I didn’t even have to ask for her number. She offered it, willingly. I guess I should’ve gathered that maybe she liked me too at this point. But she still had a lot of options, so I wasn’t sure.

Over our Christmas break, we texted each other a lot. When we came back for the Spring semester, things really started moving. The fact that she spent a lot of her break texting me back made me feel brave enough to start asking her to hang out more.

At MBU, around Valentine’s Day we have this pretty big dating outing (required attendance of course), called Artist Series. A professional musician puts on a formal concert on campus and you are encouraged to bring a date. I really wanted to ask Kaelyn. A friend of mine pushed me to ask her as soon as I could. He kept saying, “You just have to bite the bullet and ask her, before someone else does!”

I played volleyball most nights at MBU with friends. One Friday night, I invited Kaelyn to come in hopes that I might be able to ask her then. Now, I was no dummy, I messaged her friend, Amber, first to test the waters. Because our schedules didn’t intersect a ton. I’d have to purposely run into her in order to ask. Her friend thought Kaelyn would definitely be on board and agreed to help me coordinate a time when we could be alone. 

At a conservative Christian university, being alone, is pretty tricky. I mean, I wasn’t looking for a dark secluded place to make out or anything. I just wanted a moment to talk to her without the entire bustling campus listening on. Anyway, Amber and I decided that if I invited her to come play volleyball, I could ask her after. But Kaelyn was already looking forward to a movie night in the dorm, so she stayed in. Amber tried to convince her, but it didn’t work. I didn’t know this, but I guess Kaelyn caught onto Amber’s pushing and got tipped off that I wanted to ask her out. 

The race was still on! The next night after having dinner with her and her two friends, we all walked out to the parking lot. Suddenly, her friends disappeared. Immediately, my mouth dried up, my palms began to sweat, and all the words I ever knew vanished from my memory. I remember my friend’s words ringing in my ear, “bite the bullet.” So, bite the bullet I did. To my shock she said yes! 

I think the awko-convo went something like this:

T: “Ummm, would you like to go to Artist Series with me”

K: “Yea, I’d love to!”

T: “Okay”

K: “Yeah”

T: “Cool”

K: “Great”

T: “Alright, well, I better let you go, bye”

K: “Bye” 

She walked back to her dorm and I went to a music practice room. Once there, I practiced one of my voice pieces, “Vittoria, mio core,” which is Italian for Victory, my heart! Let’s just say, this little voice nerd had never sung that song better!

Just recently, she remembered that the next day, another guy asked her if she had a date for Artist Series. She wanted to go with me, but wasn’t sure if I would ask. If I hadn’t, she probably would’ve said yes to the other dude. Shew! That was close!

Our First Date

That night was a blur. Many of the details are lost to me, but I do remember how I felt: exhilarated, ecstatic, and… awkward. The anticipation of what would be my first and last first date was intense. My heart was beating out of my chest and my palms were sweating, again (sensing a theme here, yet?). I remember how beautiful Kaelyn was in her navy dress and soft curls. She was as sweet as strawberries and as radiant as the heavens. (She still is, by the way.)

The awkwardness didn’t have anything to do with Kaelyn. She was practically perfect in every way. It was just awkward because we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Our photos from that night are hilarious to look back on. We couldn’t put our arms around each other in a photo (Christian college probs), so we both stood there awkwardly with arms laying limply by our sides. Although we do have one photo where we stood in front of the platform and I rested my arm on the platform behind her to make it look like we were on a date. I know, sneaky. 

After the event, I think we went out to eat at a restaurant called the Pine Cone. This was a mainstay for MBU students. The restaurant was inside a truck stop (not too glamourous), but it was probably the furthest you could go from campus without needing to fill out a pass. Plus, they have some pretty good sweet treats, which Kaelyn & I are allll about! 

This night was the beginning of something absolutely amazing!