Calista’s birth story… August 1st, 2008; 1-2 days past her due date:
The morning before Calista’s arrival, I went outlet shopping with my mom. We walked around waiting for stores to open. I felt some contractions, but just tightening, nothing painful. I didn’t think anything of it since I had Braxton Hicks with Zachary a lot earlier; Zachary was born a week and a day past his due date, and I was only 1-2 days past Calista’s due date. After going to the outlets, we went to Safeway. I remember thinking that the contractions were pretty regular and that maybe I should start timing them. But again, they were not painful, so I wasn’t in any rush. We went home and had lunch, and I picked up Zachary from preschool alittle after 1pm. Normal day so far!
At about 2:30pm, I decided to take a shower … and during my shower, a clot of blood fell out. I figured it was the ‘bloody show’ and that, like with Zachary, the baby would come 24-48 hrs later. I jumped on the computer and posted about it to my online friends and IM’d my sister Alice. My mom was cooking, and I went to talk to her. While talking to her, a felt a gush of warm liquid – my water broke! I called James (who was at a work offsite) so that he would come home. I also called my friend Dana – her water also broke before she delivered her son Jason, so I asked her some questions. Her water broke at night and Jason wasn’t born until the following evening, even with Pitocin … so again, I figured I had plenty of time. I called my doctor close to 4pm to let her know my water broke – she told me to check in to the hospital in 1-2 hrs, so by 6pm or when contractions came 5 minutes apart. When James got home, and I asked him to install the infant carseat, and I started packing for the hospital.
At about 4:30pm, my mom thought I should go to the hospital sooner and told me to time my contractions (still not painful!) … I was surprised that they were only 3 minutes apart! I was purposely stalling though. I knew once I got to the hospital, they would want to start testing and confine me to a bed, lying down (one of the worst positions to deliver) … and I knew there would be the very tempting option of the epidural, which I wanted to avoid. But since my contractions were less than 3 minutes, I agreed to hustle to the hospital!
I checked into the hospital at about 4:45pm. In the corridor, on the way to the delivery room, the contractions started hurting! Once I got to my room, like I predicted, the nurse wanted to strap me in bed and run a non-stress test. They checked me and I was 6 cm dilated. The test measured contractions on 9 squares of paper … I remember counting them down because I was in pain and wanted to get out of bed to walk around and distract myself somehow. I noticed on the computer monitor that there was another person in labor, and her contractions were very close to mine – when I asked about it, the nurse said that woman was pushing already. That should have been a huge hint that I was closer to delivery than I thought!
After the contraction measurements, I was starting to lose my resolve. Zachary’s labor was 12 hours (which I read was typical for 1st babies) and average for a subsequent baby was 7 hours. I told the nurse,”I might need an epidural because I can’t do this for 7 more hours.” She responded with,”It’s not going to be 7 hours – I think you can do this.” I took a bathroom break, and when I got back, I asked what other medication there was – but they all involved shots and my spine. The nurse said,”Let’s just check your progress before we decide on pain management.” I was at 8cm! At that point, the nurse said,”You’re in transition phase, so let me go get the doctor.” I was kicking myself for not reading up on the stages of labor because I had no idea what “transition” meant. I was also in so much pain, I think I asked for an epidural again, but no one was reacting. (James later told me that in his mind, I had to ask 3 times, and at that point I only asked twice. It was something he learned from Locke when dealing with a herion addict from the TV series Lost.)
By the time the doctor came, it was time to push. I remembered, with Zachary, having to push through a contraction and then getting a minute or so break to sip at crushed ice and prepare for the next contraction. But this time, the contractions were right on top of each other. The doctor and nurse were telling me to push, then push, then push again. There was no break in between at all! I was panicked – I remember trying to escape out of the bed by clawing at James, like a frantic, trapped animal. They said I had to push harder. So I did – there was no choice except to do what they said. I pushed as hard as I could. I FELT the head come out. And then with another push, I felt the torso and butt/legs come out. Calista was born at 6:11*pm. The nurse announced that she was 8 lbs 6 oz (I was expecting a lot smaller!) and 20 inches. They also confirmed it was a girl! YEA!
I did it! I delivered a full term baby without any pain medication! 
Right after Calista was delivered, my friend Dana got to the hospital, followed by my sisters, Alice and Sophie and my future brother-in-law Eddie. Once the commotion died down a bit, James went home to pick up my Mom and Zachary. Zachary had a huge smile on his face when he saw his baby sister for the first time!
*Updated to 6:11pm. When I asked what time she was born, a nurse said 6:18pm, but the official records show 6:11pm.
) For my birthday week, we went out for dessert twice, a sushi lunch, and a dinner at Red Robin. My gifts from James include a swim bag, a water bottle, lotion (all from my Amazon wish list) and a spa gift certificate.
). My weight the week I left the hospital was ~160lbs, so down 19lbs from my peak of 179lbs. I still need to lose 17 lbs to get to my pre-Calista weight of 143lbs. Ideally, I’ll get to my pre-Zachary weight of 135lbs, but I’m not holding my breath on that goal. Since I’m still recovering and nursing (going really well!), I’m not dieting or exercising yet. Once I get the 6 week postpartum green light from my doctor, I’ll have to kick it up a notch. 
