Penelope's Birth Story

 Penelope was born in at Aurora West Allis Woman's Pavilion in West Allis, WI on Labor Day weekend. I was due Sept. 15th, but went into labor on the 5th... since it was early and nobody told me that diarrhea was a symptom of labor - I spent the first 4 hours of labor just thinking it was some iffy Chinese food from a buffet we had tried out the night before. As soon as I realized I was in labor, I realized that my contractions were only 5 minutes apart - and the doctor said to come to the hospital when they were 15.... so we rushed to the hospital. 

The nurse that was checking us in almost wouldn't let me check in because she said that I looked too relaxed to be that far along in labor... I talked her into checking me and I was already at 6 cm, so they admitted me. When I got into my room, I REALLY wanted to get into the birthing tub to soothe my labor pains but, since my water had not yet broken, they insisted that they break it for me and we could talk about the tub afterward. Weeelll... they broke my water and when I went to go in the tub they told me that I couldn't because it was a risk of infection since my water was broken (to this day I am convinced that those tubs were just for show and do not actually run water). 

I progressed pretty quickly but was stuck at 8 cm for over an hour. My OB was on call that day but was not at the hospital yet - he was on the phone with my nurse the entire time, telling her to get me on Pitocin. He said he was "letting his dog out". I kept looking at her like he was crazy and said, "I don't have to tell you that I'm moving quickly enough, do I?" She was SUPER nervous the entire time because I wasn't doing what my OB was asking her to tell me to do and, since she kept coming up behind me to close my robe - I just took the thing off and was walking around naked. 

My entire labor, I had a song stuck in my head from a music video I had watched the night before - "Dont' Stop Me Now" by Queen... little did I know, it was Freddie Mercury's birthday!


It was a good thing I didn't cave and do Pitocin because I skipped 9cm and went straight to 10. Before I knew it, I REALLY felt like pushing - but my OB was not there yet. The nurse was yelling at me to not push as she was frantically yelling for a doctor and nurses to come help from the hallway. I only had 15 minutes of pushing... but at one point, the doctor had pulled my skin around Penelope's head to "help her", but this caused me to tear. I told him, "uhhh that hurts!" and he said, "yeah... you're in labor, it's going to hurt!" I wanted to say, "noooo.... what you just did hurt!"... but another contraction came on and it was my last push. 

They put her on my chest right away and I remember wanting to check how long her legs were right away. Toward the end of my pregnancy, she would stretch her legs a lot and I could feel her butt jabbing out one side of my belly and her heels on the other - I swore that her legs had to be the same length as my forearm... and they were! She was born with a strawberry birth mark on the tip of her pinky and to this day I am super bummed that it didn't stay. My OB didn't show up until 20 minutes after Penelope was born. 
I had checked into the hospital at 11:45am and Penelope was born at 4:15pm.

We stayed at the hospital for three days. We could have gone home after two... but since it was Labor Day and Penelope had some slight jaundice, we did not want to risk not being able to get in to see a doctor if something were to happen. All was well - they fed us well and there was a Beatles Marathon. We couldn't pay much attention though - all we could do was sit and stare at Penelope. She was perfect!

We had one visitor in the hospital - my brother, Ryan, who was living in Thiensville. I didn't want people staying at our house when we brought baby home, so my family didn't come to visit until the following week. Penelope was a good nurser from the start. Typically babies loose weight in the first few weeks when breastfed... but Penelope GAINED 2 pounds! I always joke that she did me a solid by being born nearly two weeks early - I am convinced that she would have been born 6 pounds heavier!