The Greenhouse Birth Center ~ Where families are born, gently.

Birth story of Fiona

Written by Her Mother

Born Tuesday, 12/27/05

1:20 p.m.

5 pounds, 13 ounces, 19 inches long

This is the story of the birth of my third child and my second birth at the Greenhouse Birth Center. During my pregnancy with my first son, I researched all sorts of options for birth places and caregivers. The midwifery model of care made so much sense to me. Unfortunately the Greenhouse Birth Center didn’t exist then. I had a “tolerable” birth experience in the hospital with an obstetrician but I knew a lot of things could have been much better.

I was ecstatic when I learned about the opening of the Greenhouse Birth Center. The birth of my second son was worlds apart from my first hospital birth. Caring women who knew and respected me, a lovely huge tub of warm water, cuddling in a comfy bed with my new baby and husband, going home to my own bed a few hours later, no tears or stitches…That was the way I felt a new precious being should be welcomed to the world. When I became pregnant with Fiona, there was no question about who would care for me during my pregnancy and birth.

I had another healthy, relatively easy pregnancy with Fiona. I was queasier than I was with the boys for the first 12 weeks. I was tired and just felt yucky until the second trimester. I never threw up though. I was in maternity clothes by 10 or 11 weeks this time. The heartburn started earlier this time too, probably around 25 weeks. My pelvis was much looser this whole pregnancy. I’d get some twinges that would remind me to be careful when rolling over in bed or when getting in and out of the car.

I had lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions starting really early, probably around 12-13 weeks. Later I would have “contraction days” where I’d have lots of practice contractions all day long, then nothing for the next few days. They were never really painful, just noticeable.

I gained the least amount of weight with this pregnancy. I gained around 60 pounds during my first two pregnancies but I just stopped gaining much weight with Fiona around 30 weeks. I ended up gaining about 45 pounds with her. I felt like I was eating just as much as the other pregnancies, including my daily hot chocolates and lots of ice cream.

At my 32 week appointment, Kip said that she thought the baby was breech. She was tiny so she had lots of room to flip around in there. Kip told me not to worry at all, that there was plenty of time for her to turn. But I did worry about it a bit. I hadn’t been doing any pelvic rocks or any other exercises. I’d just been slouching on the couch. For the next few weeks I was more careful about my posture and about doing some yoga exercises. At my next appointment at 36 weeks, Kip, Sandra, and Clarice all thought that Fiona was head down. She stayed that way the rest of the pregnancy.

I knew this would probably be my last pregnancy so at the beginning I promised myself that I would cherish every moment. It ended up being such a strange, stressful time that I thought about a lot of other junk a lot more than I thought about the baby I was growing. Among other things, one of my cats died on the same day I got my positive pregnancy test, I negotiated a job sharing arrangement at work, and my husband had back surgery 4 days before my due date. We also had a tough time with a name. When I was overdue, we finally agreed on her name.

That was another very different thing about this pregnancy. I never made it to my due dates with the boys. And there I was, waiting and waiting for Fiona to arrive. My due date was 12/17 so I started my maternity leave from work on Monday, 12/19. I was glad she hadn’t arrived by then since my husband was still recovering from his surgery. He was queasy and could hardly eat for almost a week. Then I was happy she didn’t arrive on 12/24 or 12/25 and ruin the midwives' plans for Christmas.

On Monday, 12/26 I woke up with a bad sciatic pain in my right leg. I’m glad I didn’t have that for longer than a day. What a pain!I was walking around doing funny leg lifts and other kinds of exercises and stretches to try to help move the baby’s head off my nerve. We did the usual stuff the rest of the day.

Finally around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, 12/27 I felt my first real contraction. I didn’t have a bloody show until around 8 a.m. My husband wanted me to call Mom and Dad at 4 a.m. but I waited until around 7 a.m. to call them. They started over on the two hour drive shortly after that to watch the boys while I went to the birth center. I could have had the boys and my parents at the birth center with us, but I knew having them there would distract me.

I called Kip at 8 a.m. I actually had a prenatal appointment scheduled for that morning at 10:00. I told Kip that I’d still be there around that time but it would be for a birth, not a prenatal appointment. I then took a quick shower, got dressed, and went downstairs to lie on the couch. I purposely stayed lying down as much as possible. I knew from my previous labors that as soon as I was upright the contractions would come much faster. They had been around 7-8 minutes apart all morning. We wanted to wait until Mom and Dad got here to watch the boys before moving things along too quickly.

My husband was getting very nervous that the baby was going to come while I was on the couch. He made me call Mom and Dad around 9:30. They were on the expressway near Potterville. He was making me nervous too so we loaded the boys up in the van and told Mom and Dad to meet us at the birth center. We got there around 10:20 and Mom and Dad arrived not 10 minutes later. I had hardly any contractions on the drive to the GBC, which was a nice change from the previous labors where I was in transition during the drive.

After a few introductions and goodbyes, Mom and Dad drove the boys home. My husband and I got settled into the green room. The tub was already filled and there were some candles lit. In my two previous births, things went really fast at the end and I was already in transition by the time we got to the birth place. Since this was the first birth where I had time to get acclimated and settle into my birthing space, I sort of felt at loose ends and didn’t know what to do with myself. I almost felt bored. I wished that I had brought a book or a magazine. The contractions had slowed way down on the drive over. I had a few contractions kneeling in the beanbag chair but that didn’t feel so great. I decided that standing up and leaning onto the bed during a contraction worked better. The “at loose ends” feeling really only lasted until the contractions picked up again, probably 30 minutes or so.

Around noon the contractions were definitely stronger and probably 3-4 minutes apart. Now I needed my husband to start pressing on my lower back during the contractions. I wasn’t hungry at all but Shelie had given me a nice glass of ice water when I arrived and I remember drinking a bit of that.

Shelie, Kip, and Sandra were all hanging out at the kitchen table during this time. That was fine with me because I’m the type who just wants to be left alone while in labor. Shelie would come in every now and then to use the Doppler to check on the baby’s heartbeat. I kept looking at that nice big tub of water and thinking that it might be nice to get in. I hadn’t really planned on having a water birth but I’d always heard how nice it was. At around 12:30 I decided to go ahead and get into the tub. There was a sprayer attachment and I had my husband spray that onto my lower back during a contraction. That was a nice distraction from the contractions.

As in my other labors, I felt like I couldn’t sit at all so I ended up kneeling in the tub. During a contraction I would brace my arms against the insides of the tub and lean my forehead against the “pillow” suctioned to the end of the tub. Shelie told me later that this is about the time when the midwives could tell I was having contractions (I had been fairly quiet up to this point). They marked this as the beginning of my “active labor”, which ended up lasting about an hour.

The contractions were definitely stronger and closer now. During the contractions I was really pressing my forehead down onto that stick-on pillow and my nose was just out of the water. I soon started moaning during the contractions and I kept waiting for that pillow to pop off the tub and dunk my face in the water. I started feeling tired but I told Shelie when she came in with the Doppler that I thought the baby was close.

When the contractions were right on top of each other and I was moaning loudly through each one, I heard Shelie say something about getting things ready. They could tell I was starting to push. Kip, Shelie, and Sandra all came in and gathered around the tub. Kip said to me, “When you feel the baby’s head coming out, I want you to reach up and guide it out.” I think I said okay to her but I was thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding. There’s no way I’m going to lift my arm up from where it is braced against the side of the tub to guide out the head. If I do, I’ll fall face first into the bottom of the tub.” But when the head started to crown, the “ring of fire” felt like it was all up front (probably because I was on my hands and knees). I did reflexively put my hand on the baby’s head as it was coming out. I remember thinking how cool it felt to feel her head in my hand as she slid out. It happened quickly and as soon as the head was out Shelie took over guiding the rest of the baby out. Her body slid right out very shortly after the head was born.

As soon as she was out, Shelie deftly moved her through my legs and into my arms. (Still not sure how that was done but it didn’t feel awkward at all at the time.) Fiona was just looking at all of us with her big blue eyes. She wasn’t crying at all but Kip kept saying how beautiful and pink she looked so I wasn’t worried about her breathing. The midwives put a tiny hat on her head and laid a blanket over her so she wouldn’t get chilled. My husband cut the cord and we sat in the tub a while longer. Sandra took some pictures and Fiona tried nursing a bit. She was a natural.

After about 30 minutes the placenta came out. Then I think it was Sandra who helped me over to the bed. I climbed in and Fiona and I cuddled for a while. Shelie brought me a warm blanket, which felt like heaven. Fiona had her newborn exam and was weighed. No one guessed that she was so tiny. Kip said she looked smaller after we knew how little she really weighed (5 lbs., 13 oz.). By this time our herbal bath was ready. I climbed in for a lovely bath while my husband fell asleep in the bed with Fiona in his arms. Then Shelie reminded me that the herbal bath was good for Fiona’s belly button stump so she came into the tub with me for a while. We probably stayed in the tub for nearly an hour. We went home around 5 p.m., about 4 hours after Fiona was born.

Shelie drove to our house on Wednesday and Saturday to do our home visits. She also brought a CD with dozens of pictures that Sandra and Kip had taken of the birth. I will always treasure those pictures. Shelie also did some great footprints of Fiona. I’m going to have to frame them.

It’s the not-so-little details like birth photos, and home visits, hour-long prenatal appointments, and baby footprints that really make you realize that you are not just another name on a chart to the GBC midwives. Not to mention that they take their cues from the laboring mother as to what she needs to help birth her baby, instead of following some sort of “standard procedure” as the nurses at the hospital must do. I told Kip at my 6-week postnatal appointment that I was sad this was my last pregnancy because I would miss seeing her, and Clarice, and Shelie. Kip said that I wasn’t the first person to tell her that. I can’t think of a better recommendation for a caregiver.


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Birth story of Fiona Written by Her Mother Born Tuesday, 12/27/05 1:20 p.m. 5 pounds, 13 ounces, 19 inches long This is the story of the birth of my third child and my second birth at the Greenhouse Birth Center. During my pregnancy with my first son, I researched all sorts of options for birth places and caregivers. The midwifery model of care made so much sense to me. Unfortunately the Greenhouse Birth Center didn’t exist then. I had a “tolerable” birth experience in the hospital with an obstetrician but I knew a lot of things could have been much better. I was ecstatic when I learned about the opening of the Greenhouse Birth Center. The birth of my second son was worlds apart from my first hospital birth. Caring women who knew and respected me, a lovely huge tub of warm water, cuddling in a comfy bed with my new baby and husband, going home to my own bed a few hours later, no tears or stitches…That was the way I felt a new precious being should be welcomed to the world. When I became pregnant with Fiona, there was no question about who would care for me during my pregnancy and birth. I had another healthy, relatively easy pregnancy with Fiona. I was queasier than I was with the boys for the first 12 weeks. I was tired and just felt yucky until the second trimester. I never threw up though. I was in maternity clothes by 10 or 11 weeks this time. The heartburn started earlier this time too, probably around 25 weeks. My pelvis was much looser this whole pregnancy. I’d get some twinges that would remind me to be careful when rolling over in bed or when getting in and out of the car. I had lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions starting really early, probably around 12-13 weeks. Later I would have “contraction days” where I’d have lots of practice contractions all day long, then nothing for the next few days. They were never really painful, just noticeable. I gained the least amount of weight with this pregnancy. I gained around 60 pounds during my first two pregnancies but I just stopped gaining much weight with Fiona around 30 weeks. I ended up gaining about 45 pounds with her. I felt like I was eating just as much as the other pregnancies, including my daily hot chocolates and lots of ice cream. At my 32 week appointment, Kip said that she thought the baby was breech. She was tiny so she had lots of room to flip around in there. Kip told me not to worry at all, that there was plenty of time for her to turn. But I did worry about it a bit. I hadn’t been doing any pelvic rocks or any other exercises. I’d just been slouching on the couch. For the next few weeks I was more careful about my posture and about doing some yoga exercises. At my next appointment at 36 weeks, Kip, Sandra, and Clarice all thought that Fiona was head down. She stayed that way the rest of the pregnancy. I knew this would probably be my last pregnancy so at the beginning I promised myself that I would cherish every moment. It ended up being such a strange, stressful time that I thought about a lot of other junk a lot more than I thought about the baby I was growing. Among other things, one of my cats died on the same day I got my positive pregnancy test, I negotiated a job sharing arrangement at work, and my husband had back surgery 4 days before my due date. We also had a tough time with a name. When I was overdue, we finally agreed on her name. That was another very different thing about this pregnancy. I never made it to my due dates with the boys. And there I was, waiting and waiting for Fiona to arrive. My due date was 12/17 so I started my maternity leave from work on Monday, 12/19. I was glad she hadn’t arrived by then since my husband was still recovering from his surgery. He was queasy and could hardly eat for almost a week. Then I was happy she didn’t arrive on 12/24 or 12/25 and ruin the midwives' plans for Christmas. On Monday, 12/26 I woke up with a bad sciatic pain in my right leg. I’m glad I didn’t have that for longer than a day. What a pain!I was walking around doing funny leg lifts and other kinds of exercises and stretches to try to help move the baby’s head off my nerve. We did the usual stuff the rest of the day. Finally around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, 12/27 I felt my first real contraction. I didn’t have a bloody show until around 8 a.m. My husband wanted me to call Mom and Dad at 4 a.m. but I waited until around 7 a.m. to call them. They started over on the two hour drive shortly after that to watch the boys while I went to the birth center. I could have had the boys and my parents at the birth center with us, but I knew having them there would distract me. I called Kip at 8 a.m. I actually had a prenatal appointment scheduled for that morning at 10:00. I told Kip that I’d still be there around that time but it would be for a birth, not a prenatal appointment. I then took a quick shower, got dressed, and went downstairs to lie on the couch. I purposely stayed lying down as much as possible. I knew from my previous labors that as soon as I was upright the contractions would come much faster. They had been around 7-8 minutes apart all morning. We wanted to wait until Mom and Dad got here to watch the boys before moving things along too quickly. My husband was getting very nervous that the baby was going to come while I was on the couch. He made me call Mom and Dad around 9:30. They were on the expressway near Potterville. He was making me nervous too so we loaded the boys up in the van and told Mom and Dad to meet us at the birth center. We got there around 10:20 and Mom and Dad arrived not 10 minutes later. I had hardly any contractions on the drive to the GBC, which was a nice change from the previous labors where I was in transition during the drive. After a few introductions and goodbyes, Mom and Dad drove the boys home. My husband and I got settled into the green room. The tub was already filled and there were some candles lit. In my two previous births, things went really fast at the end and I was already in transition by the time we got to the birth place. Since this was the first birth where I had time to get acclimated and settle into my birthing space, I sort of felt at loose ends and didn’t know what to do with myself. I almost felt bored. I wished that I had brought a book or a magazine. The contractions had slowed way down on the drive over. I had a few contractions kneeling in the beanbag chair but that didn’t feel so great. I decided that standing up and leaning onto the bed during a contraction worked better. The “at loose ends” feeling really only lasted until the contractions picked up again, probably 30 minutes or so. Around noon the contractions were definitely stronger and probably 3-4 minutes apart. Now I needed my husband to start pressing on my lower back during the contractions. I wasn’t hungry at all but Shelie had given me a nice glass of ice water when I arrived and I remember drinking a bit of that. Shelie, Kip, and Sandra were all hanging out at the kitchen table during this time. That was fine with me because I’m the type who just wants to be left alone while in labor. Shelie would come in every now and then to use the Doppler to check on the baby’s heartbeat. I kept looking at that nice big tub of water and thinking that it might be nice to get in. I hadn’t really planned on having a water birth but I’d always heard how nice it was. At around 12:30 I decided to go ahead and get into the tub. There was a sprayer attachment and I had my husband spray that onto my lower back during a contraction. That was a nice distraction from the contractions. As in my other labors, I felt like I couldn’t sit at all so I ended up kneeling in the tub. During a contraction I would brace my arms against the insides of the tub and lean my forehead against the “pillow” suctioned to the end of the tub. Shelie told me later that this is about the time when the midwives could tell I was having contractions (I had been fairly quiet up to this point). They marked this as the beginning of my “active labor”, which ended up lasting about an hour. The contractions were definitely stronger and closer now. During the contractions I was really pressing my forehead down onto that stick-on pillow and my nose was just out of the water. I soon started moaning during the contractions and I kept waiting for that pillow to pop off the tub and dunk my face in the water. I started feeling tired but I told Shelie when she came in with the Doppler that I thought the baby was close. When the contractions were right on top of each other and I was moaning loudly through each one, I heard Shelie say something about getting things ready. They could tell I was starting to push. Kip, Shelie, and Sandra all came in and gathered around the tub. Kip said to me, “When you feel the baby’s head coming out, I want you to reach up and guide it out.” I think I said okay to her but I was thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding. There’s no way I’m going to lift my arm up from where it is braced against the side of the tub to guide out the head. If I do, I’ll fall face first into the bottom of the tub.” But when the head started to crown, the “ring of fire” felt like it was all up front (probably because I was on my hands and knees). I did reflexively put my hand on the baby’s head as it was coming out. I remember thinking how cool it felt to feel her head in my hand as she slid out. It happened quickly and as soon as the head was out Shelie took over guiding the rest of the baby out. Her body slid right out very shortly after the head was born. As soon as she was out, Shelie deftly moved her through my legs and into my arms. (Still not sure how that was done but it didn’t feel awkward at all at the time.) Fiona was just looking at all of us with her big blue eyes. She wasn’t crying at all but Kip kept saying how beautiful and pink she looked so I wasn’t worried about her breathing. The midwives put a tiny hat on her head and laid a blanket over her so she wouldn’t get chilled. My husband cut the cord and we sat in the tub a while longer. Sandra took some pictures and Fiona tried nursing a bit. She was a natural. After about 30 minutes the placenta came out. Then I think it was Sandra who helped me over to the bed. I climbed in and Fiona and I cuddled for a while. Shelie brought me a warm blanket, which felt like heaven. Fiona had her newborn exam and was weighed. No one guessed that she was so tiny. Kip said she looked smaller after we knew how little she really weighed (5 lbs., 13 oz.). By this time our herbal bath was ready. I climbed in for a lovely bath while my husband fell asleep in the bed with Fiona in his arms. Then Shelie reminded me that the herbal bath was good for Fiona’s belly button stump so she came into the tub with me for a while. We probably stayed in the tub for nearly an hour. We went home around 5 p.m., about 4 hours after Fiona was born. Shelie drove to our house on Wednesday and Saturday to do our home visits. She also brought a CD with dozens of pictures that Sandra and Kip had taken of the birth. I will always treasure those pictures. Shelie also did some great footprints of Fiona. I’m going to have to frame them. It’s the not-so-little details like birth photos, and home visits, hour-long prenatal appointments, and baby footprints that really make you realize that you are not just another name on a chart to the GBC midwives. Not to mention that they take their cues from the laboring mother as to what she needs to help birth her baby, instead of following some sort of “standard procedure” as the nurses at the hospital must do. I told Kip at my 6-week postnatal appointment that I was sad this was my last pregnancy because I would miss seeing her, and Clarice, and Shelie. Kip said that I wasn’t the first person to tell her that. I can’t think of a better recommendation for a caregiver.
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