Hiya Mr. Wolf.
For what it's worth, I'd like to suggest that you bring a measure of patients to the process. Things may have changed at the vital statistics office in Sacramento since I changed my birth certificate in 1999, but I can tell you that I found that office to be under staffed, disorganized, and unresponsive.
Even though I did everything right with forms and court orders and payments, my paperwork kept getting lost, misfiled, misdirected and generally passed around. The whole process took 2 years and I had to file twice because my first request was lost. (Eventually the paperwork for my first filing was returned to me for insufficient payment because the fee had increased in the year-and-a-half between when the request was lost and then later found.)
If your experience is anything like mine was, the best I can recommend is to keep detailed notes of what you mailed, when you mailed it, dates and times that you called, who you talked to, what was said, etc. I found that it helped mitigate the frustration factor in subsequent calls when I could name names and drop dates with details about what I was told.
It could be that the vital statistics office in Sacramento was just beginning to figure out how to support the needs of transsexuals in 1999, and perhaps they have systems and processes in place today that streamline the effort. But if your process is anything like mine was, do be patient. Eventually they get it right, and when you get that corrected birth certificate in the mail, well, then it's all worth it.
Best of luck!
Miharu
