Penelope's Birth Story

Our darling daughter has arrived! Below is our complete birth story. Warning: no holds barred.

Penelope Wren Alynne Smith
September 24, 2008
Born at 10:48 am, 6 pounds 9 ounces, 19 inches long

After doing a lot of research into childbirth and current child birthing practices in the U.S., my husband Mark and I decided that we did not want to have our baby in the hospital, where the rate of medical interventions was so high even for low-risk births. We wanted to have a natural birth with no interventions or drugs. We decided to have our baby at the Austin Area Birthing Center, which had the homey environment and natural approach we wanted but with more of a safety net than a home birth. Part of our birth plan was to have my best friend Amber and my mom attend the birth and help us through labor. Since my mom lives in St. Louis, I was worried that she would not be able to make it in time for the birth. She bought plane tickets for a few days ahead of my due date and we crossed our fingers. She arrived as scheduled on Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the afternoon, and I breathed a great sigh of relief. Well, I think I must have been subconsciously holding things back until then, because I went into labor that very night, four days before my due date (the 28th).

We all went to bed around 11 or 12 and I tried to sleep but couldn’t. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks and it seemed like they were kicking into a higher gear. Also I felt a new sort of pressure and some achiness in my lower back. I laid there in bed while Mark slept and wondered over and over whether this was really it. I was glad that we already had a regular prenatal appointment scheduled for the next morning so that I could find out if anything was really happening. After a while it was clear that I was not going to get any sleep so I got up and did some things like complete a list of email addresses of friends and family to notify about the birth. As I worked I kept an eye on the clock and noticed that my pains were becoming pretty regular. As a few hours passed by I became more and more convinced that this really was labor. What’s funny is that I didn’t feel excited like we were taught we would probably feel in early labor. Instead I just felt very determined. I thought to myself “OK, then. This is it. Let’s do this.” I calmly decided to continue to let Mark and my mom sleep so that they would have more energy to help me in the morning. I breathed through the contractions on my own and held off until I really needed help.

At about 5am I felt like things were getting more serious. I went to the bathroom and was glad to discover that all-important sign of impending birth: bloody show. This was the signal I had been waiting for; there was no doubt that the baby was on her way and this wasn’t just “false” labor. I decided to wake up Mark and tell him. I went back to our room and sat on the bed next to him and shook him awake. I told him that our baby was going to be born today and he was very surprised! I told him how I was doing and he began to help me through the contractions. They were quickly becoming too strong to be able to talk through. I knew that there was a good chance the baby would be posterior as she seemed to prefer that position during the last part of my pregnancy, and sure enough I was having back labor. Mark began applying counter-pressure to my lower back and I was so glad we had practiced that!

Once it became clear that things were moving along, he went and woke up my mom so that she could help get things together for going to the birthing center while he helped me. Unfortunately although we had everything we needed, it wasn’t yet all packed up, so for the next couple of hours they took turns applying counter-pressure and rushing around packing. We assumed that the labor would take many hours so we were bringing a lot of stuff with us just in case. I tried to help with advice about where to find things between contractions, but I was rapidly losing my ability to keep track of what was going on around me. I had to just let that go and let them do their best to find everything we were going to need.

After maybe an hour or so, Mark timed the contractions as getting pretty long and pretty close together, something like 45 seconds long and 5 minutes apart. This was close to where we needed to be to go in, so Mark called the center’s answering service to get a hold of a midwife. The midwife on call overnight was Lauren, and she recommended we stay at home for as long as possible since we would be more comfortable there. But after we talked to her I became more and more convinced that things were progressing very quickly and that we needed to get going. I was having to vocalize loudly through each contraction; they were getting quite painful. Also I was worried about hitting rush hour traffic. So after a while I asked Mark to call back and tell them we were coming in. This was around 7 or so. Lauren said OK but that at 8 there was a shift change and Jenny would be taking over so that’s who would meet us at the center. Mark had already called my best friend Amber to wake her up; now he called to let her know that we were heading out soon.

Unfortunately it took rather a while longer to get everything together and get me into the car, so we didn’t leave until 8am—prime rush hour time. My contractions were extremely painful by this point, especially because in the car no one could reach me to apply counter-pressure to my back. I tried my best to push my back into the seat as hard as I could during my contractions. Mark drove like a crazy man to try to get us there as quickly as possibly but we got stuck in traffic on Lamar. He broke a few laws to get through it and up Mo-Pac to the center. We arrived at 8:45 and I was so relieved! Amber was already there too.

Jenny was there and she took us back to the Santa Fe-style room I had wanted to use. She immediately did a pelvic exam on me to see how far I had progressed before we were officially “admitted.” She said that I was 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced so we could stay. Well, there was no way I was going to be able to leave again at that point so I was very glad to hear it. But she also confirmed that the baby was posterior. She wanted to try to turn her around so that the birth would go easier. She had me labor in bed on all fours with my butt in the air and my head on the bed. I was disappointed that I couldn’t labor in any position I wanted but I understood the need to turn the baby. Jenny also gave me an herbal remedy that is supposed to help with turning the baby anterior.

At this point my contractions became so intense that I lost all concept of time and had no idea what was happening around me. I couldn’t hear what people were saying most of the time and didn’t know who was in the room or what they were doing. Each contraction hit me like a wave crashing over me. I had heard some people compare it to surfing, but I felt like it was all I could do to hang on for dear life and not capsize and drown. I felt the waves of pain almost picking me up from the bed. I was vocalizing a lot, moaning loudly with every contraction. It was obvious to me that things were really happening fast but no one else seemed to understand this. I think I tried to explain this to Jenny between contractions. I seem to vaguely remember repeatedly saying things between contractions like “no really, this baby is coming!!” Then with a particularly strong contraction I also suddenly felt a very strong urge to push—it was so strong that it really took me by surprise. Basically, I couldn’t not push. And at the same time, I realized that I could actually feel the bag of waters pushing through my cervix. I can’t normally feel my cervix, obviously, so I can’t explain how I felt it, but I just knew that the bag of waters was pressing through that opening. I yelled all this information out and Jenny finally came over and examined me again. Good news—I was already FULLY dilated! It took me only a little over an hour to go from 6cm to 10cm! Yep, those were pretty strong contractions, all right. I felt vindicated. And further good news—the baby had turned and was anterior. I could begin pushing! Jenny suggested getting into the tub and I jumped at the chance. But first I decided to try to go to the bathroom. I felt so much pressure on my bladder. Once on the toilet, though, I couldn’t make anything happen. Then I heard a pop and my water broke! How lucky that I happened to be sitting on the toilet when it happened. Jenny checked the amniotic fluid and said it was slightly colored but not enough to be concerned about.

Next I stripped off all my clothes and got into the tub. I had basically zero modesty at this point; all that mattered was getting the baby out as quickly as possible. Mark had changed into his swim trunks and he got into the tub behind me. Everyone else gathered around the tub; my mom, Amber, Jenny, and the midwife’s assistant Angela. Then I began to push with each contraction. It was overwhelming, how strong the urge was to push. I began to feel the baby move through the birth canal and I screamed with each push. The feeling of the baby inside me was so crazy and scary; I didn’t enjoy the pushing stage at all and wanted to get it over with as quickly as I could. The weirdest part was between each contraction when we all just sat there and waited and I had a baby half in me and half coming out. It felt like I pushed for a long time but it only took 45 minutes for her to finally fully emerge. Unfortunately the little devil tricked us; she hadn’t turned after all. She had turned her head so that it would fit more easily through the pelvis, but her body was still not facing the best direction. So that made getting her body out a little trickier and I ended up tearing in several places and needing 6 stitches.

I remember that everyone kept remarking in amazement as her head came out, and lots of comments about long dark hair. I wanted to see her for myself so badly, it was a wonderfully gratifying moment when she finally did come out and was placed in my arms. I was so relieved to finally be able to hold her! Mark got to cut the cord. I’m so glad that she was born in the water like I always dreamed. She was born at 10:48am after a total of about 11 hours of labor.

I went to the bed to deliver the placenta and get stitched up. Penelope breastfed right away. I remember that Roswitha stopped by to see us at 11, which is when I had my next scheduled prenatal appointment, and I said “sorry we missed our appointment!” Mark’s mom and sister and niece and nephew surprised us by driving down from Fort Worth as soon as they heard we were in labor, so they arrived at the center shortly after the birth. They stayed just long enough to meet Penelope and bring us milkshakes. Then Penelope was weighed and measured and bathed and then we packed our stuff back up and headed home. We didn’t end up needing any of the bunches of stuff we had packed; we were only at the birth center for about two hours before she was born! And we left at about 6pm that evening; just in time for more rush hour traffic.