A Smarty Mom Delivery Story of a Lifetime!

By Tammy Panovich

With my first pregnancy, it was as textbook and perfect as you could imagine, Kyler was even born on his due date. I delivered him naturally, unmedicated, with the help of Brad, a Doula and midwife after 8 hours of labor at CMC-Uptown. When I got pregnant with Kinley it was anything but textbook. It seemed like any test (nuclear translucency, etc…) I took I failed and I had the most severe case of morning sickness. At 35 weeks I went into preterm labor and my midwife seemed to think I was going to deliver at any time. Fast forward to 40 weeks and I was still pregnant and had been 4.5 cm dilated for almost 2 weeks! Every week I saw our midwife she was shocked I was still pregnant, but alas my due date came and past and then 5 days later at 5:20 am on 9/1/11 I had my first contraction. After my third contraction I woke Brad up to tell him it was “gametime.”

We immediately called our Doula who had a 45-minute drive and began to pack up the remaining items for our hospital bag. My contractions were very short and about 5 minutes apart, but I wasn’t concerned as this was exactly how my son’s contractions started. Our birth plan was to labor at home for as long as possible before heading to the hospital, but we also knew that being 4.5 cm dilated that we would be headed to the hospital a little quicker than the first time. At around 6:15 am, we moved downstairs so that I could use my exercise ball to “labor” on and so that I wouldn’t wake my son during contractions. Again, they were short, tolerable and still about 5 minutes apart. At around 6:40 am, my water broke and I could feel the contractions starting to change so I quickly told Brad to wake up Kyler and pack the car that we needed to head to the hospital.

Brad packed the car with our bags, woke up Kyler and put him in the car and I told him to come back for me during the break of my contractions. As he walked back in the door I felt a very strong contraction and a “pop” in which I placed my hand to feel Kinley’s head in my hand. I began to shout that her head was out that he needed to call someone immediately. I think Brad almost didn’t believe me until he glanced down and immediately dialed 911 (7:00 am). As he spoke to dispatch I realized that there was no way medic would make it in time and asked him to get our neighbor across the street who was a nurse to help.

I could see Brad’s face change, who is the most calm person I know, as he didn’t know which direction to go in. Does he stay with me, get Kyler out of the car, get our neighbor, hang up on 911?? Turns out the 911 operator wouldn’t let him hang up so while on the phone he took Kyler out of the car, shouted for Blair (nurse neighbor) to come over and grabbed another passing neighbor to take her 2 children and our son so she could come help. Blair quickly came over and as she entered the door I told her “Blair her head is in my hand and you’re going to have to deliver her!” Blair responded with “I just finished making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I’ve got to wash my hands!!” She washed her hands quickly, came over and told me on the next contraction to push. The next contraction came and I didn’t even have to push as the contraction pushed her out! Immediately thereafter our Doula walked in and jumped on the floor to help Blair suction and remove the cord from Kinley’s neck. Fire and medic arrived approximately 3 minutes later. They just thought I was in labor and were leisurely walking in until Brad yelled “she’s already here, hurry up!”

If you know my husband he is a very big social media (Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus) guy and of course had to tweet “Holy crap wxbaby2 was just born on our living room floor…no joke!” PS. Does anyone know a good wool rug cleaner?

Looking back, I’m thankful we didn’t get in the car as our drive to uptown with the sinkhole closure and school traffic would have put me delivering in the backseat or on the side of the road as we would have never made the 30-minute drive.

Kinley was perfect upon medic arriving and upon arrival to the hospital. She was 7.2 pounds and 21″ long!



A big Smarty congrats to Tammy & Brad and their incredibly beautiful family! Thank you for sharing your story with us!