Certain events happen by design,the so called destiny kicks in and works its way so beautifully to truly amaze the one who envisages it. Our birth story is one such unforgettable experience.
It was around 2 years back we got to hear about birth village from social media. Instantly it captured the imagination of my wife. This settled into her brain and I would imagine this is where this story starts .
It was one afternoon while we were driving back home after a mini shopping stint when we first called up BV, we expressed our interest for an appointment and learnt that there were no pre-pregnancy program at BV.
Once we learnt that Shiji is pregnant, the thought of BV was back.
I always had the fear of the uncertainties involved in a birth process and I was reluctant to even think outside the conservative norms for her labour.
However she always wanted to have a natural birth and she felt very strongly that Birth village is the right place for her.In any case, her urge to try out the natural birthing centre convinced me to have a closer look at it.
We were curious to know first hand about BV and the processes involved. We had the very first appointment , a skype appointment with our Midwife This interaction settled my nerves , my wife already convinced and excited by now.The apprehension of fear and anxiety was magically removed from our minds. By the end of the 30 min appointment, We both were mostly convinced that BV is the place to go .
We booked a face to face appointment at BV and headed to Cochin, which looking back is the start to our remarkable journey to bring our little one to our life.
The appointment lasted more than an hour and by the end of it we were convinced that this indeed is the place where our little one should be born.
Multiple appointments followed which were essentially knowledge build up sessions for us, the to-be parents. From someone who were scared about events at childbirth, we gained sufficient enough knowledge to boost our confidence in the process and practices of labour . It was an eye opening experience especially for me. Naturally, loaded with this confidence we were getting ready more and more with each session we had.
I’ll now move to the D-Day story and allow my wife to fill in the blanks 🙂
The D-Day began nice and early. On a quiet Monday evening of her 38th week, after we finished our respective office work, we had dinner and was just about to goto bed when her water broke. We immediately called our midwife and confirmed it is indeed a water break. In the normal circumstances, I would have panicked a bit at least. But here I realized that I was excited to know that our baby is just about to arrive. I was studying what is happening in my wife’s mind and was prepared to act. We went to bed on the advice of our midwife and kept updating our midwife on any events .
By the next morning she was experiencing mild contractions , but when the contractions disappeared in a couple of hours, we contacted our midwives.
On the advice of our midwife we visited the centre, had a checkup done to be sure that our baby is doing great inside. Our midwives asked to just look out for baby movements and assured us there is nothing to worry.we checked our temp frequently and checked in with baby quite often and kept ourself well hydrated
Nice and relaxed, We drove back home and by evening 4:30 she got her signs of contractions again. Slowly by 6:30 we understood that she had entered the
active state of labour with contractions coming every 5 mins and lasting 60 seconds.We were now waiting to get strong contractions and by 10:30 pm we
realized that we have touched this milestone. And now it was time to reach the birth centre. We called up our midwife and told that we are ready to come. We
drove down to the centre and reached there around 11:00pm.
She was in excruciating pain as I drove our car, with myself trying to calm her down.
Upon arriving we have our midwives ready and with a wonderful calming
presence waiting for our arrival. She was welcomed and examined, while I felt great seeing our midwives supporting her to calm her down.
We were made to feel at home and she was talked to and made her understand that the baby is waiting to arrive and that the labour process is a thrilling
experience and convinced her that she was up to the task.
Again I would like to allow my wife to fill in the blanks here as I enter the climax here.
In the early hours of the international Woman’s day, after more than 27 hrs after her water broke , as she pushed down the baby hanging on with all her might with the help of our angel midwives in the birth support rope, I suddenly saw the baby arriving .
It was like a three dimensional image suddenly gaining life . He cried and peed all in one instance and both of us were left ecstatic. This by a long way is
the defining moment of our life and looking back it is destined to be only this way.
As a side note: I am truly amazed at what my wife had done. It has certainly increased my respect to her and women in general.She is a superstar 🙂 . And certainly this event is going to make her evolve a stronger woman.
My Notes – Shiji as a new mother
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– My husband has filled in very well , that I don’t have much to add on. If it was not for the support of our midwives .It wouldn’thave been a wonderful experience for sure. I was there on my knees, squatting, squatting in pool, pushing on the bed, using the birth support rope, you are
not stuck to one postion. Needless to say in each position, our midwives had to take the extra effort in lying down, kneeling down to check the baby along
with caring me like true angels.
Going to birth village helped me build confidence and got the feeling that there is not a thing which is beyond my capability.
When I was pregnant I was in my mid thirties everyone advised me to be very careful and asked to restrict movements. Once the first skype appointment with BV got over, it all changed for good. I started to climb around 100 stairs per day, try and hit the pool whenever there was an opportunity and started again going to office which was my normal self. I never got the feeling of a patient ever since the BV appointment. The Lamaze classes that followed were true eye openers which got me thinking on how ignorant we generally are. The Lamaze sessions along with pregnancy workout sessions by Donna helped me gain an lot of confidence and gave me mental and physical strength. We also had a couple work out class. All these were awesome experiences and served as a perfect preparation for the
eventual labour.
In between each contraction our angel midwives were talking to me, making me feel relaxed and once I was made to touch the crowning head of the baby I was
again ready with renewed energy to make that final push for our little prince to arrive.
Needless to say , the overwhelming support I got from my husband motivated me to stay focused during the entire process.
I have to also add that I also experienced an ectopic pregnancy and had a salpingectomy done however it never brought down my belief in my body or baby
I also held the post of Vice President at Goldman Sachs and pretty much worked till the day before I birthed my son
Excuses that one does not have time , work overload are all ways to get out of reaching your final goal
Each woman will find her way provided she sets her mind on it
Thank you our angel midwives for making this possible!!!
Bv notes
We were always impressed with how well this mum worked hard in pregnancy and balanced her work schedule
She never shirked from her exercise and never said she couldn’t accomdate it in her busy schedule
100/100 for the labor support offered by her man who was gentle yet firm who kept edging her “you can do this you are doing this”
So proud of your commitment and grit
Well done and congratulations again!!!!