I came to Birth Village in April when we found out that we were surprisingly pregnant with our second baby. Having done the hospital route and not happy with our outcome we sought a more holistic approach. And that’s exactly what we found and more. Nothing and no one could have been more encouraging and knowledgeable than the lovely midwives we met that day. We live in Kodaikanal but we were determined to work out the logistics to have our baby at Birth Village. We came to Kochi in our 37th week, prepared that the baby could come in at any time. But at 41 weeks, the baby had decided it was going to be a late checkout. On November 13th, which was a Friday, it was a quiet day at home. I had taken an afternoon nap and then suddenly woke up to some mild contractions. As I had had a series of odd cramps through the week, I waited till late evening to see if they were holding on. Yes, it was happening, the baby was getting ready to arrive. I decided that it was definitely time to have a dinner out as this would be the last for a while. I ordered a salmon salad and a veg lasagne, followed by a bite of bread pudding at Cocoa Tree. I messaged my midwives from the restaurant to let them know that the contractions were starting. She dvised me to have dinner and go straight to bed and maybe have a glass of wine to relax and unwind. I had mild contractions through dinner, every 5 minutes. I came home and as I lay down, the contractions eventually eased off and I was able to sleep through till morning. At 6:30 the contractions started back up again. Slowly at first but it really quickened pace speeding up to every 5 minutes. I messaged again and then she asked me to call and wait till they got stronger. But before I knew it, in the next 30 minutes they became so strong and were coming in every 3 minutes. My husband called again and was told to come into the center in the next 20 minutes. We arrived at the birth center at about 9:20 where my birth team all greeted me with so much warmth and I felt so much support radiating from the room. It really made me comfortable and gave me a strength I didn’t know I would have. The next 45 minutes were simply unbelievable. I had strong contractions which I had sitting on the ball followed by stronger contractions in the birth pool. Before I knew it, I was pushing, actually pushing the baby out. At 10.09 I pushed my baby girl(3.9 kg of goodness) out into the world. That was it! There was my little angel all wrapped up in vernix. I was amazed to see the vernix had just absorbed into her skin a few hours later. I didn’t think I could do this, but with the tremendous support from Birthvillage, I felt so empowered and so proud that I did do it!! I will always remember those last few minutes. With tremendous pain came the most beautiful little thing!! There were no machines, no drugs but just the rawness of my baby and me. I’m so grateful to everyone especially my husband who was a constant support, silently and patiently watching and listening. I couldn’t have done it without him. -Maya Cariappa, lovely mom to 2 sparkly babies.
Post notes from Birthvillage This mamma is such an awesome example to many women that age is not a factor to have a healthy pregnancy or birth Her determination and confidence is something that has held us in awe over her prenatal period And when you have a husband who is confident and in sync, with nature, its an unbeatable bond It is also extremely rare to see supportive folks that this mamma is blessed with who respects her choices and let her walk her path the way she chooses. Traveling for births is not easy especially with an older bubbly child) but it just goes to show when people are determined they find their way.. they will! Just before they left mum commented that their angel smelled of oranges and dad(a coffee planter) said it can’t be… she has to smell of coffee, the debate continues……