At The 38th Week My Angel’s Head Turned to Down Position

Being a person with history of hypothyroid and PCOD, I was always worried regarding my pregnancy but at the same time I always had complete faith in my body and was able to conceive naturally in October 2020. As heard and seen I also thought the journey would be easy and fun but it wasn’t true. One month in and I started having false contractions, and was advised complete bed rest and was on weekly hormonal injections which were extremely painful and continued till 4th month. I wanted to keep up with my fitness level and was really determined to have a normal delivery hence decided to enroll for pre-natal program, was lucky enough to get Nikita as my trainer. We were on a disciplined routine of exercises and meditation (they were my favourite ☺️). Nikita customised exercises for me keeping in mind my entire history which made it easy for me to keep up with the routine.

Cutting the story short the second trimester was so much better but the injections kept crossing my way on and off. All through the pregnancy my doctor said all is going well and the baby is in head down position which kept my confidence of delivering normally. Then I entered the exciting trimester 3. As we were nearing the due date, doctor visits increased and one fine day in 36th week my doctor surprisingly said the baby has changed position and its a breech 🙄. Suddenly my baby girl decided to add some more spice to my journey. We lost hopes of normal delivery because the chances of baby turning to head down position at this stage looked bleak. My doctor was really supportive and wanted to wait instead of rushing for c-section. We decided to take a final call at 38 weeks. The next two weeks were full of anxiety. My husband and I increased baby talk and started using positive affirmations. We used to talk to our baby everyday and really kept our hopes high. At 38 weeks I was scheduled for scan and guess what my angel turned to head down position. Unbelievable, isn’t it. My doctor was surprised as babies rarely turn positions at last stage. Our hopes for normal delivery were back on track and I was training with Nikita regularly to ensure this. I remember her pushing me for full squats, duck walk during these last days which were not so easy but we still did it.

During my 40th week the baby movements reduced and to avoid any potential risks my doctor suggested to induce me. With a lot of apprehensions I said yes and was extremely nervous. But nature had other plans, 15 minutes later of giving me a medicine to induce labour, my water broke naturally. Both the things together stressed my girl inside and her heartbeat dropped, I was immediately asked to stick to bed, was given regular IV fluids, continuous oxygen supply along with non stop fetal monitoring. All of this was the total opposite of what I had thought. I was not allowed to move and I wanted to take labor pain while walking and wanted to use pain management techniques but couldn’t. Even though I was asked to stick to bed, I kept getting up to use washroom and would take additional 10 minutes to walk before coming back to bed. 10 hours of pain and I was only 3 cm dilated. The pain intensity kept increasing and we took a conscious call after 12 hours of labor to take epidural because I really wanted a normal delivery.

Finally after 18 hours of labor pain, was taken to OT as I was fully dilated. I remember my doctor asking me if I was doing squats during my pregnancy because I was able to push comfortably and my body was supporting me easily in the process. And I successfully delivered my baby girl normally.

All I would say is that pregnancy and delivery doesn’t always go as planned however with proper guidance and support it is possible to make the experience memorable.

I am so thankful to Nikita for her continued support during my journey which really helped me to take some informed decisions.

Ps. Sharing a picture which depicts the real life of a mommy. Sleepless nights, dark circles, not so pretty looking face, non stop breastfeeding but the blessing of holding my baby in my arms completes it all.