Disha’s Birth Story: Everyone was so surprised with all the terminology I was using

To start off with, I took the classes at Rita’s Pregnancy 101, Bodakdev branch with Geeta and Kajal and I ensured to attend all info classes and most exercise classes. Having no immediate family around me in the city, I was extremely clueless about every single thing related to pregnancy; however, by the end of all info classes, I was actually a pro about any and everything related to pregnancy. I also took the hypnobirthing classes and let me tell you – they have helped me tremendously (since I’m more of visualization person). So before going to my mom’s place during my 7th month, I was super confident about what to expect.

At mom’s, I used to regularly practice hypnobirthing and used to walk a LOT everyday (to make the walks more interesting, I used to walk around different malls, parks, etc.) I took the hospital tour about a month before my due date and I used to visualize the labor room along with practicing hypnobirthing.

At 37 weeks, the doctor mentioned that the baby was head down and I could expect contractions any time now. However, my due date arrived and yet no signs of labor. Doctor said that they will wait a week more for another check up to decide next steps. I reached out to Geeta at around 39th week and she told me certain things to do naturally to initiate labor.

I tried various methods and a day after my due date my contractions started at 5am. These were mild contractions which were 10-11 minutes apart (expected them to start off with 30-45 mins apart but nope :(). Since they started off pretty close, it gave me a feeling that I was going to be delivering the same day. I started monitoring them on the app and informed Geeta immediately. She asked me to use gravity friendly positions for better progress and comfort. I did squats (where my husband would support me from the back), exercise ball, and walks.

At around 1pm, they were about 7-8 mins apart and the intensity was much higher. Throughout the day, I had spotting so the nurses asked me to get it checked at the hospital. At around 5pm, the nurses and doctor on call did an internal checkup concluding that I was 0 cm dilated. There was a lot of pain but I decided not to give up and continue with gravity-friendly positions.

After going home, I made sure to keep myself up and in a sitting position to make contractions more bearable since the sleeping position seemed way more intense. At around 11pm, the contractions were about 6 mins apart and they started to get way more intense since they lasted for roughly about 45-55 secs. At midnight, I got a call from the hospital asking for the status and I informed them that the pain was unbearable. They still asked me to wait till they’re 5 mins apart.

At around 2pm, they were 5 mins apart, duration was 1 min. We reached the hospital at 2:30am, nurses took me directly to the labor room. My entire family was in the labor room (they had comfortable massaging chairs, exercise ball, a beautiful view, relaxing music, squat machine, etc. in the labor room). Nurses did an internal checkup and I was 4 cm dilated. This is when they suggested that if I wanted to go for an epidural, this was the right time. I still decided to wait.

At around 4pm, I was still only 4 cm dilated and decided to take the epidural. The epidural procedure went smooth and pain nearly disappeared but my contractions and baby’s heart rate were constantly being monitored. I was bed ridden and could not feel my lower body.

At 8am, the doctor on call changed (this was my preferred doctor and I couldn’t be happier). He arrived and comforted me, joked around with me and my family. He performed an internal check up and said I was 7 cm dilated. The baby’s heart rate / bp were fine so he asked to keep on waiting. expectation was that in the next 2-3 hours baby should be out. The nurses would keep switching my positions and used the peanut ball between my legs to let the baby come down on it’s own.

We waited till 12:30pm which is when I was fully dilated. They decided to slow down the effect of the epidural so I could feel the contractions and can push accordingly. I started feeling each contraction which were extremely unbearable and at 1pm, doctor decided that I should start pushing. I pushed for about 45 mins but not much progress.

Nurses and doctor started using all different techniques for pushing (they got an overhead rod with a bedsheet which I could pull towards myself to create a reverse crust motion, pulled up two railings form the bed so I could pull it towards me, got side tables so I could push easily, my mom and husband pulled my legs towards me and head in front, made me lie on the side and tried to push, etc.). This entire time, my husband, mom, 2 nurses and doctor were beside me helping me through every single push physical and emotionally. I pushed till 3:15pm, which is when the doctor said that I’ve been pushing for too long and it would affect the baby now if we continue pushing longer.

The minute I heard that and thought that they would maybe go for a C-sec if I wasn’t able to push after all this pain, I gave it my ALL those last pushes. By God’s grace, at 3:27pm, our little Kabir was born! He had 2 cords around his neck, his side of the head was coming out first, which was the reason for so much pushing. Immediately the doctor asked my husband to cut the umbilical cord before he was put right beside me for a quick clean up after which he was brought to me for a skin to skin. Skin to skin lasted for about an hour and a half. We were in absolute awe for this perfect little miracle that we had created (35 hours of labor seemed nothing after this feeling).

I seriously can’t thank Geeta enough for all the knowledge that I have (everyone was so surprised with all the terminology I was using), for the constant support at any time of the day! Kudos to you guys and keep it going! Lastly Rita mam for the hypnobirthing classes. I took them in right spirit and was extremely positive about it. The entire time in the labor room, I kept on practicing it which gave me the strength to not give up! Thank you Rita’s Pregnancy 101 for making my pregnancy journey an extremely memorable one!