This is a guest post from Heather P, sharing her personal story of finding out she was pregnant while still a high school teenager, and her decision process in favor of natural childbirth with no Epidural or pain relief medications.

Seeing the double pink lines on the pregnancy test, showing positive results that I was pregnant, came as a shock. I’m having a baby and I’m scared to death. I had just celebrated my 18th birthday, about to graduate from high school, go on to college and get my degree, then pursue my chosen career.

Here I was, a month after returning home from my summer vacation to Chicago, taking a pregnancy test, with my boyfriend on the phone with me. Out of all the things I was worried about and planning for my future, taking a pregnancy test and getting the results was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

I knew I had to tell my mom about my discovery, but how? I hadn’t even graduated from high school yet; I’m young and not married, but I’m pregnant. Having to tell my mother that I’m pregnant meant disappointing and hurting her. How do you look your mother in the eyes and tell her the news? How would she react to hearing that her own daughter was now an unmarried pregnant teenager, just like those she’s written about here on this site? Every emotion possible was running through me. I had no idea how to tell my mom, “Hey, Guess what? You’re going to be a grandmother…” Umm, no.

How to Tell Parents You Are Pregnant

I decided that I was going to call my mom at work and tell her over the phone once I got home from school that day. I expected all hell to break loose, but I was extremely surprised and relieved that her only reaction (after a long moment of silence) was to calmly tell me to go to Planned Parenthood and take another pregnancy test to be sure there was no false-positive results, and that we’d talk about it when she got home.

Having heard how other parents of pregnant teenage girls have reacted to an unplanned pregnancy, I was expecting to hear an explosive reaction from my mom too, but I didn’t get one. All we talked about were the 3 different pregnancy options that needed to be decided: Adoption, abortion, or keeping and raising the baby. There was no criticism from my mom; no down-talk; no name calling; no emotionally-charged rants whatsoever; our conversation was purely informational and calm.

While I knew I wasn’t ready for a baby, I called my boyfriend and told him what I was thinking and feeling, and asked him what he wanted to do since it was his baby too. He cried his heart out to both me and my mom, telling us that he wanted me to keep the baby, and that we’d work everything out. Ultimately, that’s what he and I decided to do. So I was now a 18-year-old mom-to-be.

Next question that had to be answered was, where was I going to live? My boyfriend lived in Chicago, and I live in Texas. Was I going to move back to Chicago and stay with him and his family? Was I going to stay in Texas and he move out here? We decided I was going to stay here in Texas with my mom, and my boyfriend would move here as soon as possible. While his family had already known (prior to him moving) that I was pregnant and he was about to become a father, my dad and siblings still had no idea.

I was way too afraid to hear their criticism and negative comments, so I asked my mom if she could deliver the news for me. She didn’t need to tell me what they said to her about it because it was written all over her face. Suffice it to say that their reactions were the exact opposite of my mom’s reaction. Then it was time to start figuring out who my labor and delivery doctor (OBGYN) would be, where and how I would give birth to our baby, and start getting things we needed for the baby.

Birthing Options for Expectant Mothers

Although I didn’t know anything about the different places to labor and deliver a baby, my mom knows what birthing options there are for mothers-to-be and she was a big help to us! In an unbiased way, she explained the pros and cons of giving birth in a hospital, as well as the cost of delivering a baby in a hospital. She explained midwives and birthing centers to me and the costs involved, and explained what home births are like. Not once did my mom ever say anything to pressure me or influence my/our personal choice of how or where I would labor and/or deliver our baby. Thanks mom!

Labor and delivery in hospitals is very expensive even if you have health insurance, and you have virtually no freedom on how you’re going to labor and deliver your baby. If you’re having mostly back labor (where the labor pains or contractions are mostly felt in your lower back), the last thing you would want to be told by the hospital nurses is to lay flat on your back, or that you’re not allowed to turn on your side or move around at all even if it makes you feel more comfortable before, during and after each contraction.

Hospitals aren’t very open-minded to what birthing methods women want for their own labor and birth experience, and you only see your doctor for a quick few minutes when the baby is ready to be delivered. Birthing Centers are very open to what pregnant mothers want for their birth experience, assuming you don’t want an Epidural or any strong pain medications. Birthing Centers are available for women who want natural childbirth like I did, but at a much lower cost than having a baby in a hospital. Birthing at home (home births) is essentially the same as laboring and delivering your baby at a Birthing Center.

Once my boyfriend and I understood the choices and options about how and where to deliver a baby, we decided to visit the Allen Birthing Center in Allen Texas. I didn’t want to have to spend $20,000 just to see my doctor for 5 minutes, so it was a relief when they told me that the cost was only $4750 dollars flat fee; the price includes from the moment you have your first prenatal office visit, to the day they check you after birth. Once we had a good look around and got all our questions answered to our satisfaction, we decided that the Allen Birthing Center was where I would give birth.

Trying to finish school while pregnant proved to be very interesting to me. At first I was self-conscience about myself and the way that everyone looked at me, but after I realized that the kids at my school didn’t really make a big deal about it, it was easy to just be myself. Being pregnant didn’t really stop me from doing very much. I still drove everywhere, and held a part time job well into my third trimester.

The prenatal Lamaze classes that my boyfriend and I went to were pretty funny. We were the youngest couple there, but no one treated us any different. We watched some birthing videos of people having a baby, worked out of a workbook, and practiced different breathing and relaxation techniques that make labor more tolerable. I didn’t realize there was so much information you needed to know about labor and delivering a baby.

Natural Childbirth vs Epidural and Pain Relief

The time came for me to decide what kind of birth I wanted to have. I already knew that I wanted natural childbirth, with no Epidural administered or pain meds. Since my mom personally chose natural labor and delivery for each of her 6 kids, she was a good reference for “what to expect” as far as what natural labor and delivery is like. It was really helpful to hear from someone who’s “been there” explaining what it was like for her, and feel no pressure from my mom at all, or influence to go through labor and delivery the way she did.

I even decided that I wanted a water birth, where I would deliver the baby in a bathtub filled with warm water or in the “birthing tub” in the birthing center bedroom I chose. At 4:00 am on May 11th last year, I woke up to the sound of a really weird “POP”. Lucky for me I didn’t really FEEL the pop, I just heard it. (It sounded a lot like when you pop the cork from a wine/champagne bottle) I didn’t really notice anything weird for a couple seconds, until I started leaking fluid a little bit. My water was breaking, slowly. It was only when my mom woke up and came upstairs that we confirmed that indeed my water broke and was causing me to leak.

My mom, my boyfriend, and I sat in the living room for quite awhile just timing the contractions that had begun, until I decided that I wanted to get into my parents huge Jacuzzi-tub. I just wanted to relax and take it easy, so sitting in the tub getting a back massage and listening to some good jazz music, was definitely the way to go.

Once the contractions started getting more intense and lasting longer, I felt it was time for us to drive to the Birthing Center to get checked out, but we were sent back home with further instructions. A couple of hours later we went back to the center a second time, and even though I had only dilated 4 centimeters, I was allowed to stay at the center and was told to walk around as much as I could to help speed up the process. Gravity matters during labor!

My Doula came in to help relieve my back pain as my labor and contractions progressed, since I was having back labor mostly. Hand/fist pressure applied to my lower back only helped a little, and left me bruised more than anything else. I tried sitting on a “birthing ball”, also known as a birth ball or labor ball (it looks like an exercise ball) and rolling my hips, but it didn’t really do anything for me. Sitting on a stool in the shower for about 45 minutes, while my boyfriend held and directed the shower-head water on my lower back helped a lot.

The much maligned transition phase started while I was sitting in the shower. Transition was painful but, surprisingly, it was still tolerable. Even though both my mom and I were criticized about my personal decision for natural childbirth vs having an epidural and/or pain medication, I’m glad I did it this way and would do it again. I labored and delivered our baby my way, just like I wanted and planned for myself.

Delivering a Baby the Natural Way

It’s a very strange feeling when your body naturally, suddenly and without warning, starts pushing the baby down and out the birth canal. Water births are great! Sitting in the tub filled with warm water made pushing the baby out a lot easier than I had originally imagined. The tub water took the weight of my stomach off of my back, so it was easier to concentrate on pushing, instead of how sore my back felt. When my daughter’s head was crowning, I was scared to keep pushing because I could feel myself tearing slightly. Once the baby’s head came out, the midwife told me to stop pushing. “What?! Are you crazy?” were my thoughts.

As a way of distracting myself, I turned to my mom and my boyfriend, and told them that my boyfriend and I weren’t going to be having any more kids, haha. Someone then told me that the umbilical cord was wrapped around my daughter’s neck and they had to unwrap it before I could finish pushing her out. After the midwives/Doula un-wrapped the cord, another push or two was all it took and beautiful Sophia Bella was finally born at 2:59 pm on May 11th 2009.

There are many options to choose from regarding labor, dealing with labor pains, and options for delivering a baby that pregnant teens or women need to carefully consider and decide. I wanted a natural, vaginal childbirth, and I’m so glad it all happened as I had planned. Creating a birth plan is very important when you’re pregnant, and I’m glad my mom provided me all the information, support and guidance I needed in order to choose for myself and my baby.

Similar Posts:

• Birthing Options – Natural Childbirth Options For Expectant Mothers
• Allen Birthing Center, Dallas Midwife Birthing Options, American Association Birth Centers
• Ricki Lake: Ricki Lake’s The Business of Being Born
• Pregnant Teenagers – Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy
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The Allen Birthing Center, located in historic downtown Allen Texas, is the birthing center my daughter chose to deliver her baby in May 2009. Allen Birthing Center is a free-standing birth center, staffed by 3 experienced and highly-educated certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), offering prenatal care, labor support, delivery and exam of the newborn, postpartum care, well-woman exams, family planning, and primary care.

As soon as my daughter learned about her pregnancy, she had what seemed like a million questions and fears for a first-time mother, which is understandable. We discussed birthing options, the average cost of delivering a baby in a hospital vs. a birthing center or homebirth, pros and cons of each option etc, so she could make an informed choice for herself and her baby.

I was very careful to just explain the facts of each option because I didn’t want her to feel any pressure or influence from me about how or where to have her baby. Just because I chose the home birth option to deliver her and her older brother, and hospital births for my first four children, doesn’t mean she should make the same choice I did.

My daughter asked me, “If you could do it all over again, which option would you choose now?” I had to be honest and tell her that if I had known years ago about certified midwives, birthing centers and homebirth options, I would have chosen to give birth to each of my children at home. The differences between laboring and delivering a baby in a hospital vs. delivering at home or at a birthing center for low-risk pregnancies are huge.

I suggested she check out Ricki Lake’s Business of Being Born documentary, and explained that she needed to create a birth plan where she would list her personal preferences for labor and delivery, including how and where she would decide to give birth. I also explained that she needed to decided whether or not she wanted pain medication or an epidural for pain relief during labor, because that would have everything to do with where she would labor and deliver her baby.

After doing a considerable amount of research into Dallas/Collin County birthing centers and midwifery, she and the baby’s father decided to tour the Allen Birthing Center and interview the certified midwives, Rebecca “Becky” Burpo, Lana Amelia “Amy” Giles and Elizabeth “Betty” Hoffman, to get answers to their questions from the experts.

The Allen Birthing Center’s philosophy about childbirth is equal to that of my daughter and the baby‘s father – that birth is a normal process that needs very little intervention, but support and encouragement throughout their pregnancy, labor and delivery would be provided, ensuring their personal natural childbirth choices were respected.

My daughter did not want an epidural or any pain medications at all during labor, and she was thrilled with the prospect of being able to move around freely at the birthing center during labor vs. staying flat on her back in a hospital labor room, as well as the waterbirth option if she so chose. Knowing that the Allen Birthing Center works in close cooperation with nearby hospitals reassured her even more, just in case something unplanned or unforeseen were to occur and she needed to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency c-section.

In order to find Texas birth centers and midwives in our area, we checked out the Association of Texas Midwives (ATM) and the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) website for listings by state and county. Allen Birthing Center is the only natural birth center in all of Collin County, but I found a total of 12 birthing centers in Texas:

Allen Birthing Center
406 West Main Street
Allen, TX 75013
Tel. 214-495-9911
Website: www.allenbirthingcenter.com
Contact: Rebecca Burpo, Director

Birth and Women’s Center
3100 Swiss Ave
Dallas, TX 75204
Tel. 214-821-8190
Website: www.birthcenter.net
Contact: Cherie Boettcher, Director

Gentle Beginnings Birth Center
1817 Harwood Court
Hurst, TX 76054
Tel. 817-479-0124
Website: http://www.gentlebeginningsbc.com
Contact: Ann Crowell

Inanna Birth & Women’s Care
1823 N Locust Street
Denton, TX 76201
Tel. 940-483-1569
Website: http://www.inannabirth.com
Contact: Jean Sala, Owner

Special Beginnings
513 W Church Street
Grand Prairie, TX 75050
Tel. 972-642-3446
Website: http://www.special-beginnings.com
Contact: Betty Winford

North Houston Birth Center
7007 N. Freeway #435
Houston, TX 77076
Tel. 713-699-4211
Website: http://www.northhoustonbirthcenter.com
Contact: Kathleen Vande Giessen, CNM

Reunion Women’s Health & Birth Center
201 Kingwood Medical Drive # B 300
Kingwood, TX 77339
Tel. 281-359-2229
Website: www.reunionmidwives.com
Contact: Janet Little, Midwife/Owner

Bay Area Birth Center
3210 Strawberry Road
Pasadena, TX 77504
Tel. 713-472-5525
Website: http://www.houstonbirthcenter.com
Contact: Jackie Griggs, Director

Rite of Passage Women’s Health & Birth Center
2206 E Broadway, Ste E
Pearland, TX 77581
Tel. 281-485-2886
Website: www.pearlandbirthcenter.com
Contact: Bernadette Olivier, Director/Owner

Lovers Lane Birth Center at Cottonwood
304 S Cottonwood Suite A
Richardson, TX 75080
Tel. 214-366-3579
Website: http://www.dallasmidwife.com
Contact: Dinah Waranch, Owner

San Antonio Birth Center
7272 Wurzbach #101
San Antonio, TX 78240
Tel. 210-593-0462
Website: http://www.birthcentersa.com
Contact: Nicole Voge, Office Manager

Nativiti Women’s Health & Birth Center
26614 Oakridge Dr
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Tel. 281-296-2333
Website: www.nativiti.com
Contact: Melanie Dossey, Director/Owner

My daughter’s labor and delivery at the Allen Birthing Center went very well. Her labor lasted 10 1/2 hours, which is pretty darn good for a first-timer, and she went from 6cm to 10cm (complete) in just 40 minutes! She had quite a bit of back labor, which can be extra painful if you’re stuck laying flat on your back in a hospital labor room for the doctors and nurses convenience, but she didn’t so much as whimper, cry or scream during any of her labor pains. She’s a tough cookie! She was able to walk around at will, have her back massaged by the baby’s father, stand/sit in the shower with strong water flow massaging her sore back and eventually moved to deliver her baby girl by waterbirth in the tub.

Each of the two birthing suites at the Allen Birthing Center are very comfortable and decorated beautifully, and the website provides photos of the birth center inside and out for expectant mothers to check out before scheduling a free consultation visit and tour. The total cost of pre-natal care, labor, delivery and aftercare for both mother and baby was only $4750.00 – PLUS they file medical insurance for patients – and they even allow payment plans. What’s not to like about a birthing center staffed by phenomenal experienced midwives, and a cost that even young expectant parents can manage to afford on their own? My daughter said that if she chooses to have any more children, that she’ll definitely use a birthing center and midwives again, and may even decide on a homebirth.

Similar Posts:

• Birthing Options – Natural Childbirth Options For Expectant Mothers
• Natural Childbirth Birthing Options, Delivering Baby the Natural Way or Epidural?
• Ricki Lake: Ricki Lake’s The Business of Being Born
• Pregnant Teenagers – Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy
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