Calista Jolie

My sweet little Halloween Angel, Calista Jolie (Jolie for my mom, JoAnn, and Blair's mom, Julie)

6 pounds 10 ounces

19 inches long

Sweet as can be, but she's definately got Blair's (or my, depending on who you ask) temper.

Labor Fun

Meet our little Halloween surprise! She, of course, came the ONE day of the month I told her not to. When I went into labor at 1 am, I knew for sure she was a boy. Only a boy would be so disobedient ;) Also, when I went into labor at 1 am, I was positive I wasn't in labor. Partly because the previous Sunday I was sure I was in labor all day long, waiting for my blasted contractions to get closer than 10 min apart, clear up until they just stopped. And I was thinking if I refused to admit I was in labor, I wouldn't be. I'm very strong willed...sometimes. At 3 am when they were 3 min apart, Blair FORCED me to call my mom. She came and we left, and for the 20 minute ride to the hospital, I had zero contractions. They stopped again. Furious, I paced the hospital parking lot trying to figure out if I should go inside or go home.

We finally decided to go in and ask them what I should do.

Labor and Delivery is on the 4th floor. I hate elevators, even more when I'm in labor, so we took the stairs, and on the way up my contractions started again at 3 min, but they weren't very painful - nothing compared to when I had Sienna, so I was still convinced I wasn't in labor. We got to the 4th floor...and the door was locked. So we hiked all the way back down and took the dumb elevator.

They admitted me, even though I explained to them that yes, this was my 3rd child but I had no idea if I was in labor or not. I'm sure they were all impressed with my intellegence. They checked and I was dialated to a 6, so I had to stay. About an hour later, around 6 am, I asked for an epidural because I was attached to the bed and I don't like pain. Twenty minutes later I told my nurse it was too strong, because I couldn't feel my contractions at all. She smiled and patted my shoulder and said it was because I wasn't having any.

They had STOPPED. AGAIN.

So they started me on Pitocin and Blair and I watched the championship dog show (there isn't much on at 5 in the morning), and I silently stewed that I was having a baby on Halloween who didn't even want to be born on Halloween, obviously. But an hour later, I told the nurse, "I can't feel anything, but I think I need to push." Call it maternal instinct. She humored me and checked, saying something about how I hadn't had any contractions so I couldn't possibly, and then gasped, because my baby was right there ready to be born. She called my doctor, but I couldn't deliver until 9:09 so that I got all the antibiotics I was supposed to. It was 7:30. My doctor told me to cross my legs for an hour and a half. I think she was kidding. At 9:14 they broke my water, and 3 pushes and about 45 seconds later Calista was born - with the cord wrapped around her neck twice. They told me later they knew she was in trouble because her heart rate kept dropping. I can't figure out why we didn't do something about that, but she was okay when she was born, just really pissed off. So I guess it all worked out.

She's been an angel so far. I even get to sleep for about 3 hours at a stretch at night - something Sienna and Carson don't even let me do. And she's beautiful, if I do say so myself! :)