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! :)