It all started with my wife, Rama, reading a book called “Child Rearing” where she learned about the importance of natural birth. I was very skeptical as it was something very new to me and I have only seen hospital births before in my life but after reading the pregnancy part of Child Rearing I too was convinced it has to be a natural birth. Rama started to do her research hoping if something is available in India. She came across the Birthvillage Facebook page while she was doing the search and she instantly wanted to have her birth there, after she read the great Natural birth stories. At this point, we still had our doubts. But the moment we were on a call with Birthvillage, our entire perspective began to change. We had answers to all our questions and we were confident that we were with the right person at the right time. And we visited Kochi to visit Birth Village and meet midwives there in person. It was a beautiful place ( home ) and we instantly decided this is the place where our baby is going to be born. There was resistance all around from family and friends concerning our choice but our decision had already been made. We attended the Lamaze classes organized by Birth Village regularly where the myths associated with childbirth were shattered and we felt extremely confident about natural birth. We exactly knew what would happen on the day of delivery because of the classes and it removed all our fear and safety concerns. I also met a couple from Chennai who had their natural birth two weeks back and it really instilled more faith in the whole natural birthing process. We came to Kochi 25 days before our due date and started to attend classes and the Active Momma exercise routines. We were eagerly awaiting the arrival of our baby on December 25th. But God had other plans for us and Rama started to get her labor contractions on December 17th early in the morning. It wasn’t the active labor we had learned and we were asked to wait till it got stronger. The contractions got very intensive at 9 am and we were asked to come in. The journey from our rented apartment to Birth Village in our ALTO was wild!! as Rama was getting contractions every 3 minutes now. We went to Birth Village at 10.20 am with Rama in so much pain. Rama was taken to and given great encouragement and motivation by the birth team present to push the baby out using her voice and energy (read natural). She kept working hard for 30 minutes in the squat position to push the baby out. We then opted for the water birth at the last minute as she had earlier in the morning felt good during a hot water bath during the intensive contractions. At 11.13 am within an hour of coming into Birth Village, we had our girl child come out into the water and then into Rama’s arms. It was a beautiful moment we will cherish for our lifetime. I don’t think there can be a more empowering moment for a woman in her life than natural birth. As an entrepreneur, I knew this is how creation is made ( amidst wildness, Pain, and Blood ). But with a team as supportive as the one at Birth Village, you have someone with you throughout the process. The baby started to breastfeed immediately after the birth and we had to stay there for a day for Rama to recover. BirthVillage doesn’t stop there. They visited our home in the next two weeks to make sure that the breastfeeding is going well and Rama is recovering well. We had massage sessions for Rama to recover faster from a trained Ayurvedic therapist. One thing that stood out in the whole process was that they were readily available to answer any questions we had at any time via phone and messages. Our chosen midwives have years of experience in natural birth and we trusted them fully and blindly for our childbirth and they really “delivered” on the trust we had. Their commitment to the midwifery profession and their expertise in knowing the ins and outs of natural birth makes them and Birth Village the best place for your childbirth if you want to go the natural way.
