On June 21st at 3am Caleigh's water broke two weeks early. Her husband, Matthew, was at Fort Chaffee for annual training so she called out for her mom and told her she "felt weird". Caleigh's mom told her that her water was broken and it was go time! They called me at 4:30 when they had gotten settled at the hospital and she was already at a 4. 
Caleigh was so brave. She had decided to go without an epidural and battled through the pains of labor. When it got intolerable she allowed for a little bit of pain medication in her IV, but it only took the edge off. 
Usually when I get to photograph a birth I like to come in and take pictures of everyone getting settled before things get crazy, but Caleigh progressed so quickly that when I came in at 5am she was already pretty high up on the pain scale. 

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Her sister came in to see her (8 months pregnant herself) and did her makeup and hair in between contractions.
mattaleighbirth-4 It was just after 7am when Matthew was able to get back from Fort Chaffee. We were so glad he made it back in time!

mattaleighbirth-5 mattaleighbirth-6 mattaleighbirth-7 This next picture sums up the first 3 hours pretty well, haha! When I showed Caleigh and Matthew their images they laughed when they got to this one. Later on Mattaleigh is making the same pouty face during her bath. 

mattaleighbirth-8 mattaleighbirth-9 mattaleighbirth-13 Caleigh's mom and husband helped her up for the final pushes

mattaleighbirth-10 mattaleighbirth-11 Mattaleigh made her way into the world at 8:40am weighing 5 lbs, 15 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. 

mattaleighbirth-14 mattaleighbirth-16 mattaleighbirth-17 mattaleighbirth-18 mattaleighbirth-19 mattaleighbirth-20 mattaleighbirth-22 mattaleighbirth-23 mattaleighbirth-24 mattaleighbirth-25 mattaleighbirth-26 mattaleighbirth-27 mattaleighbirth-28 mattaleighbirth-29 mattaleighbirth-30 mattaleighbirth-31 mattaleighbirth-32 mattaleighbirth-33 mattaleighbirth-34 mattaleighbirth-35 mattaleighbirth-36 mattaleighbirth-37 Almost immediately afterward, Mattaleigh started rooting. She'd stick her tongue out and suck on her hand or try to latch on to people giving her kisses :)

mattaleighbirth-38 mattaleighbirth-39 mattaleighbirth-40 mattaleighbirth-41 mattaleighbirth-42 mattaleighbirth-43 mattaleighbirth-44 mattaleighbirth-45 mattaleighbirth-46 mattaleighbirth-47 mattaleighbirth-48 mattaleighbirth-49 mattaleighbirth-50 mattaleighbirth-51 mattaleighbirth-52 mattaleighbirth-53 mattaleighbirth-54 mattaleighbirth-55 mattaleighbirth-56 mattaleighbirth-57 mattaleighbirth-58 mattaleighbirth-59 mattaleighbirth-60 mattaleighbirth-61 Her hearing test took 3 attempts before they gave up and tried again the next day. I was told she passed it :)

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Thank you guys for letting me be a part of your special day! She's gorgeous!