Penny’s Birth Story

Time to put this all down before I forget it in the fog of sleepless nights and being a mom of three. Be warned that this is the story of how Penny was born so there will be some talk of epidurals, episiotomies, and all other manner of birthing subjects that may bore or gross you out. Proceed with caution!

Back in September 2010 when I went in for my first OB appointment I was still reeling from finding out I was pregnant. We had not been trying, we had even been preventing. So it came as quite a shock when the home pregnancy test read “pregnant”. At that first OB visit I remember the overwhelming calm I felt all of the sudden that everything would be ok, and that this baby was meant to come to our family at this time for a purpose. I still do not know what that reason is but I firmly believe that things like this happen for a reason. From that day forward throughout my pregnancy I felt strongly that though this was not our plan, everything would work out and this baby would only add to our happiness.

At that first doctor’s appointment I was told that our due date was May 21st, 2011. This was somewhat interesting since our first daughter, Reese, was due on exactly the same day four years earlier. I ended up going into labor in the early morning hours of the 20th with Reese and she was born on the 22nd after 63 hours of labor.

My pregnancy this time was a mass of up and down emotions. Even with the conviction that I felt about this being for the best, I still had many moments where I worried about the future and lamented the things I had wanted to do this year without a new baby to think about. I regret that I was not more gracious, more kind, more patient during those 9 months. I spent a good deal of time complaining and it makes me sad now that I was not more grateful for the blessing of being pregnant, even if it was unplanned. I faced Placenta Previa again this time, as I did with Zoe, and it luckily righted itself by week 36 so I was not forced to have a C-section. I lost 10 lbs in the first trimester and then gained it back with an additional 26 lbs by my last OB appointment. I faced pregnancy-related depression and took medication for it during months 6-8, and then stopped taking it the last month of my pregnancy as I started to feel somewhat normal again. It was a rocky road, one that I am grateful to be on the other side of now, but also one that makes me sad as it might be my last time ever being pregnant.

In the early morning of May 20th, Mark crawled into bed around midnight after a late night at work. Around the same time I started to notice that I was having mild contractions. I lay in bed for a few hours trying to go back to sleep and also relishing that I was in labor and our baby would soon arrive. I was finally able to fall asleep again around 3am and then woke up again around 5am at which point I got up and watched TV while I timed contractions. The contractions were very mild and irregular but they were definitely not false labor.

It must be mentioned at this time that Mark had forbid me from going into labor on Friday the 20th because he had a big meeting at work that he had to be present for. My mom also was not due to arrive until the following afternoon. When Mark woke up and I broke the news about being in labor he was worried but I assured him that we were nowhere near needing to go to the hospital yet and he would most likely still be able to attend his meeting. He agreed to get his mom to watch Reese and Zoe so I wouldn’t have to take care of them while I was in labor and then they took off for the day leaving me to labor in peace. It may seem strange that he left me alone when I was in labor but he only works 4 miles from our home and my labors do not progress very quickly so I knew that he would be able to get home and then drive me to the hospital with plenty of time to spare if it came to that.

I called my mom and she decided to change her flight to that afternoon so that she could make it in time for delivery. I almost told her to fly in as planned the next afternoon and she would probably still make it in time since things did not seem to be progressing very quickly. I’m so grateful she was willing to pay the extra money to change her ticket though, I love having her with me when my babies are born!

Once left to my own devices I spent some time on the couch watching TV and timing contractions but that seemed to slow things down and I wanted to get this show on the road. So I got to work cleaning our house in preparation for my Mom coming. I vacuumed, mopped, did laundry and made beds. Let me just note that making bunk beds when 9 months pregnant and in labor is no easy task! As long as I kept moving my contractions got stronger and closer together(4-6 minutes), the moment I sat down for awhile they became milder and further apart(10-12 minutes).

Around 3:10pm I drove myself to my scheduled OB appointment and announced to my doctor with a smile that I was in labor. At first she did not believe me since I was still smiling but after checking me and finding that I was dilated to 4cm and 90% effaced she told me to wait it out until my contractions were much stronger and closer together before heading to the hospital. She predicted that baby would be born the following day, but I was certain that it couldn’t take that long, after all- this is my third baby! I thought or sure that baby must be due to arrive that night.

When I got home from my OB appointment my mom was waiting there with Mark who had been able to go to his meeting and pick up my Mom from the airport afterwards. We decided to go over to Mark’s mom’s house to spend some time with our girls before they went to bed for the night. We helped feed them dinner and took them on a walk to the park to keep my contractions going strong and then we put them to bed and tried to start watching a movie. At this point my contractions were getting very painful and I couldn’t focus on the movie so we decided to go to the hospital. We headed in about 9pm.

At the hospital they checked me in and then my mom and I walked the halls for a little while as I tried valiantly to dilate as much on my own as possible before getting an epidural. Then I asked to get a dose of IV meds that would help with the pain for an hour so I could sleep a bit. I had planned on getting up and walking some more after my glorious hour long nap. My contractions had slowed down and become more mild during that time and I wanted to get things going again, but my nurse for the night smooth-talked me into getting an epidural then so the doctor could break my water. I was only dilated to 6 cm and they thought breaking my water would get things to speed up. I really didn’t want to get the epidural so soon and the pain wasn’t so great that I felt I needed it yet either. However, I didn’t want to have my water broken until I had the epidural, and I was sold on the idea of speeding things along so I agreed.

At about midnight they gave me the epidural. At first I was really excited because after an hour I could still move my legs a bit and wiggle my toes which is exactly how I wanted my epidural to be but as time went on I gradually lost all feeling in my legs and they because like wet sandbags which is really annoying when you are trying to get comfortable to sleep. I then proceeded to wait 4 hours for a doctor to come and break my water. That’s right- 4 HOURS! During that time my contractions slowed down and my labor pretty much stalled. I stayed dilated to a 6 for those four hours, and if I had not gotten the epidural then I know I could have moved things along faster by moving around. Apparently both the on-call doctors had been stuck in an emergency surgery during those four hours and that is why they couldn’t get to breaking my water for so long. I was extremely annoyed that I had allowed myself to be talked into the epidural when I felt like I should wait.

The upside is that I got a good amount of sleep in between nurses checking on me and making me roll over every hour(also very annoying when your legs are numb and you have finally found a comfortable position to sleep in only to have them wake you and make you roll over.) Mark and my Mom slept as well. After my water was broken and things were still not progressing quickly the nurse recommended that they put me on pitocin. All of this was feeling very familiar. My experience with Reese’s labor was very much the same. Long labor, slow progression, pitocin administered when labor failed to progress…

Finally around 8am I was dilated to a 10 and started pushing. Soon after beginning to push I started shaking and feeling nauseous. I have been told that this is a common reaction to going through transition during labor but I have never experienced it before. It was the worst! Such an awful feeling to need to push and also feel like vomiting at the same time. I ended up throwing up repeatedly as Mark had to walk away to avoid puking himself. Finally the nausea passed and I was able to continue pushing. The nurse happily informed me that while this baby seemed to be face-up, as both Reese and Zoe were, the doctor who would be delivering was especially talented at turning babies during delivery so he could probably make things easier. He ended up being a great doctor who had a few tricks he tried, but in the end that stubborn baby just did not want to turn and I had to deliver her face-up. It only took about 45 minutes total this time, as apposed to 3 hours with Reese and just over and hour with Zoe. Finally when she came out the nurses and doctor all commented on how large she was. The doctor predicted she was a 10-lb baby before they weighed her in, and he was very surprised that I was able to push her out posterior with how large she was. She ended up weighing in at 9lbs 2oz and was 21 3/4 inches long(though the 3/4 inches could have easily been her cone head:). She was born at 9:18 am.

I felt instantly relieved that she was out and it was over. My Mom and I cried together as we heard her cry for the first time. She was pronounced perfectly healthy and large by the pediatric nurse as she cleaned her up. All in all it took about 33 hours of labor and 45 minutes of pushing to bring her into this world. Because she was born in the morning and I had spent a good part of the night sleeping I felt better right after this birth than either of my other two. Of course Baldy was on hand to document us right after she was born and he made an awesome video for us as usual.

We named her Penny Rose MacAskill. This was a name we stumbled on only 6 weeks prior to her birth. We discussed names throughout my pregnancy and it was much more difficult this time to come to a name we both liked. I completely wanted to name her Paisley Rose, a name I fine to be whimsical and darling. Mark absolutely refused. Honestly I thought in time I would wear him down but he didn’t budge:(. Mark didn’t have a lot of ideas on the name front and the ones he did I shot down immediately as most of them were too common for my taste. I believe some of his suggestions included Cassie and Sara. At one point I came to a list of my top three contenders at the time- Paisley, Lila, and Ellie/Elle/Ella. Mark, of course chose my least favorite of those three and latched onto it- Ellie. After a few months I decided I didn’t really care for Ellie all that much and Mark was very offended that I would off the name he happened to choose. Reese happened to overhear our discussion about the three names and decided she liked Lila and for the rest of my pregnancy whenever we talked about names I tired to get her on my side and convince her she wanted us to name the baby Paisley, but she stood firm and would always say “No, Mom! I want her to be names Lila!”.

About six weeks before I was due, I was starting to freak out that we hadn’t nailed down a definite name. It was looking more and more like we might be naming her Lila since it was the only name we even remotely agreed on. I still didn’t feel that it was quite right though. Then I attended a party and there was a woman there with a new baby girl that they had named Penelope, but they planned on calling her Penny for short. I didn’t care for the name Penelope but I loved the name Penny. I started thinking about naming the baby Penny Rose and after a few days of mulling it over I gained the courage to run it past Mark. You see, it takes courage to bring up such subjects around here because sometimes the “What should we name the baby?” discussion leads to an argument and I hate that. I finally threw it out in casual conversation one night as we were feeding the kids dinner. I believe I said something like “Hey, what do you think of the name Penny? For the baby?”. Mark thought about it for a moment and then said “It makes me think of the song Penny Lane, by the Beatles, and that’s not a bad thing!”. Yes, that’s right, he agreed to it because of a Beatles song. Don’t yu know? He only agreed to Zoe because it was a video game character’s name! That’s my husband for you! So Penny it was. Even Reese changed her vote to Penny. At fist I thought that Rose might not work as a middle name but it ended up being just fine and now when I think about her name it’s simply perfect. I love it.

We had a stream of visitors the rest of that day and the next while we were in the hospital. It was nice to feel so loved and supported. The hospital had a new room-in policy, which was not the case when I had Reese of Zoe at that same hospital. I was worried that I would hate rooming in because I wouldn’t get the rest I wanted/needed before coming home to my other kids. This ended up being partly the case as Penny didn’t not want to sleep in her isolet by my bed at all! If I put her down she would inevitably wake up within a few minutes and cry to be held. Finally I gave up the fight and brought her into bed with me when I wanted to sleep. I have never done this with either of my other babies so this was new to me and I kind of liked it. However, I didn’t get much sleep and it was hard to do things like shower or go to the bathroom because that involved putting her down which she didn’t much like. This trend has continues since we got home and she simply is a baby that does not like to be put down. Difficult to say the least when you have two other kids to tend to.

My Mom stayed with us for a week helping out and boy, did I need help. Three kids is trying- but that is another entire post all by itself. Let’s just say I love my three girls but life is going to be difficult for awhile. In many ways this time with Penny is bittersweet. I am constantly looking toward the future with excitement for a time when she is sleeping more regularly, entertaining herself, and not crying every time she is in her car seat. At the same time I grow sad that this may be my last ever infant and the time is flying by so quickly. It’s so frustrating wanting her to grow up and stay little all at the same time. It’s hard to live in the moment when you know there is so much better stuff to come.

Reese and Zoe love their little sister. Reese is of course the helpful big sister who fetches me things I need and asks to hold her often. Zoe is torn between jealousy at not having my lap to herself anymore and loving pointing Penny out and saying her name when she sees her. We have had to watch Zoe like a hawk when she is around Penny as she has already tried to body slam and step on her several time, yes- on purpose.

So that’s the whole story! Our family is a bit bigger, a lot louder, and our three girls keep us very busy for the moment. I am so grateful for three healthy babies that fill my life with so much joy, even on the hard days:).