OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s been 33 years and more than 15,000 babies, so you’ll have to forgive Dr. David Kallenberger for not recalling many details about one particular delivery in April of 1986.
“It was not complicated,” he says. “I didn’t hurt her that I know of.”
It wasn’t until more than 10 years later when Crysten Cheatwood really made an impression.
A little sister was on the way and Crysten wanted to know everything.
“What I specifically remember is she would always come to appointments and ask probing questions,” Kallenberger says.
“I was just really invested in the whole pregnancy,” adds Crysten.
Instead of hanging out in the waiting room, Crysten was right there when little Hannah was born, and I mean right there.
“Out of the blue, he just sort of asked if I wanted to help. We were all surprised, including my mom,” Cheatwood said.
Something big happened that day, other than the obvious.
You can tell by the look on Crysten’s face she wanted to do this again.
“Afterward, she looked up at me and said, ‘I want to do what you do’,” Dr. Kallenberger remembered.
“So I never really every considered anything else,” Crysten says.
Dr. Kallenberger kept delivering babies.
Crysten went on to school, getting a master’s degree in physical therapy, then a doctorate of medicine, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.
“I recognized this was a good place to be to have the opportunity to be very empowering to women,” she said.
She got a job too, a good one right out of school, working in the same office she used to visit as a kid, thanks again to Dr. K.
“So I said, ‘how about coming and joining me?'” says David. “There was a long pause. I think you were driving on the turnpike, weren’t you?”
“Yes. I was,” smiles Dr. Cheatwood. “I almost ran off the road.”
“She has very good surgical skills,” adds Kallenberger.
It’s only been a few months now, a new year’s worth of babies are thriving with more on the way.
This OBGYN office at Integris Baptist has a new partner with a familiar face.
From newborn, to curious girl, to fellow physician, to lifelong friends.
For more on this story, visit the Integris Bennett Fertility Institute’s website.
