Athlete gives birth just hours after game


Mesa Vista High senior point guard Kayla Alire, shown Jan. 22, 2004, gave birth after a game Feb. 18.

By NATALIE STOREY | The New Mexican
March 3, 2006

It was on a bumpy bus ride home from a basketball game in Questa that 18-year-old Kayla Alire started to have terrible stomach pains.

The senior point guard at Mesa Vista High in Ojo Caliente didn't realize she was experiencing labor pains. She had just played in her last basketball game Feb. 18, a game in which she sank two 3-pointers.

Two hours later, she was at Española Hospital in labor. An hour after arriving, she gave birth to a 6-pound, 4-ounce baby boy no one knew was coming.

"I was shocked," she said. "I was just so amazed."

Sunshine Gonzales, an assistant manager at Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, said cases of women not knowing they are pregnant until the last minute aren't frequent, but they do occur. An athletic woman can sometimes have irregular periods and might not rely on her period as a sign of pregnancy, Gonzales said. Also, symptoms typically associated with pregnancy like nausea and weight gain can vary.

"There's a lot of women who don't have any sickness at all while they are pregnant," she said.

Alire named her healthy baby Isaiah and has recovered quickly from his birth. All throughout her pregnancy, she wore size zero pants, her normal size. She said she must have gained a little weight but never realized it. She also said she didn't have any strange cravings and thinks her body might not have clued her in to the pregnancy because she exercises so hard so often. Besides playing basketball, Alire also is in track.

"I'm not really sure how much weight I gained since I didn't really weigh myself," she said. "I ate just like I usually do."

When Alire arrived home from the basketball game, she told her mother, Cynthia Alire, that she was having awful stomach pains. Her mother drove her to the hospital, where she was informed she was soon going to give birth.

Cynthia Alire, who already has two grandchildren, was excited she was about to have a third. Kayla Alire's boyfriend of two years, Felipe Sisneros, had no idea his girlfriend was pregnant. When his mother told him, Kayla Alire said, he didn't believe it at first. "After he realized it was true, he got really happy," she said.

Kayla Alire said she and Sisneros had never discussed having children before, and she always figured she would wait until she was older to become a mother. For now, Kayla Alire said, she has been going to school this week and plans to graduate. She also wants to run track this spring and go to college in the fall.

Although unexpected, Kayla Alire said, Isaiah is a welcome addition to the family.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I'm happy."

Contact Natalie Storey at 986-3026 or nstorey@sfnewmexican.com.