The Birth Story (long version)

My plan from the moment Finn was born was to never, ever have another c-section. I wanted a natural birth and I knew that there was a strong possibility that I would carry my next child over 42 weeks (Finn was 42 weeks plus a day). After interviewing a variety of care professionals when we got pregnant with Penelope, we decided to work with a locally renowned midwife who specializes in HBACs (homebirths after c-sections).

Penelope Elizabeth Hall

(nickname Poppie)

9 lbs, 9 oz, 22 inches long, born at 12:35 am September 12th, 2011

She was born at 42 weeks and 3 days



Penelope Elizabeth and Mama hours after birth

 Penelope’s birth story really starts on Friday when we (my mom, Nick and I) went to UW Medical Center for our tests and a consultation with an OB/GYN. Basically, the OB told us that we are a huge risk for stillbirth (she must have mentioned that word 50 times or more) and that continuing with the pregnancy was nothing short of irresponsible (the placenta is too old, the baby is too big to come out vaginally, and chances of fetal distress during labor are too high) and we needed to gather our bags and walk straight up to labor and delivery to get induced, immediately. (Interesting fact that was not shared by this doctor: inducing a woman with a prior c-section dramatically increases the risk of uterine rupture and is basically a slippery 80% slope to another c-section among the other harmful effects of induction). Because we walked into her office at 42 weeks pregnant, she just couldn’t see how we could make it through the weekend and wouldn’t consider the possibility. She was aggressive and adamant about immediate induction and made me feel super, super discouraged.

We thanked her, told her we were going back to Bainbridge to gather our thoughts and things and go from there. The minute we left the hospital, I got this strong wind of encouragement to trust my natural instincts and NOT go back to the hospital, no matter what. This baby was fine, I was fine, we just needed to trust the timing of my body and this baby and everything would be OK. I am overwhelmingly blessed to have Nick and my Mom, both of whom supported me in this decision completely.

As if to validate my intuition, I woke up on Saturday morning with contractions. Not super strong or close together, but enough to make me take notice. They continued all day and stopped at night (with enough time to get 6 hours of sleep) and started back up on Sunday in the early morning. And continued with easy rhythm until about 4pm, at which point they seemed to get closer together and we started timing them. By 6pm we knew something was up and had alerted the doula and midwife and our entourage (Casi, Nick, my Mom, Finn and me) headed to the ferry.



Some of the crowd

On the ferry, I had contractions lasting about 45 seconds, every 2-3 minutes. Because we were in labor, they scooted us to the very front of the ferry so we were the first off. But, it also happened to be a beautiful night with a huge moon so everyone on the ferry walked to the front to take pictures of the Seattle skyline with a rising moon. Meanwhile, I am singing through my contractions and everyone is looking to see what the heck this crazy woman in the car with the best real estate on the boat is singing about. My mom causally mentions, if I think this is bad, wait until transition. And she turns up the music and smiles at all the people looking at us.



The best labor support in the world

By the time we got home around 8pm, I am still singing, but the contractions are rapidly turning my song into more of a moan. I still thought I was maybe 2 or 3 cm dilated at this point and had a long, long way to go, so was trying to ‘enjoy’ these ‘easy’ contractions as much as I could. We had a blow-up pool of hot water in the living room and I spent most of the labor in there. The doula arrived around 9:30 and she suggested that I take a walk and visit each room in the house. I think I maybe got through three contractions before ending up in Finn’s room (he was sleeping soundly downstairs, God only knows how) and the contractions turned pushy in an animal sort of way that came from some unknown spot deep within me. Everyone came rushing into the room and the doula called the midwife and told her to hurry. Meanwhile, I still thinking that maybe I am only just reaching 5-6 cms and the urge to bear down is because I am tired of contracting or something (the same urge happened with Finn and I was only 5 cms, which was really, really disappointing). After all, this couldn’t be transition and labor was too short.

Minutes after birth

I got back in the tub and couldn’t do anything but push. Poppie was almost born in the caul (water sack) as my waters didn’t break until we were well into pushing. And, I hadn’t planned on a waterbirth, but that is spontaneously where things ended up. With the midwife’s support, Nick helped guide the head and caught Poppie, plopping her soft, sweet body on my chest the minute she was born. Everyone in the room was quiet, letting the first voices Poppie hears, to be ours. It was magical. We had our baby girl, I got my natural homebirth, it was a short and sweet labor (6 1/2 hours!), and it was Grammy’s birthday. I couldn’t ask for more.

Daddy and Penelope, hours old

When we finally got out of the water, we realized that Poppie was covered in vernix. Post-dates babies are not covered in vernix. And my placenta? Looked like a 40 week placenta to the midwife. Wrinkles? Nope. Signs of distress during labor? Nope. A perfectly cooked baby, born exactly when she was supposed to, which just didn’t fit within the normal timeframe of 42 weeks.

Casi and Poppie

Happy Nana with still-wet Poppie