BIRTH OF RHEA AGARWAL

Before I begin with the birth story of my third child, Rhea, I’d like to tell about my other children’s births. Aninditaa was born in a traditional Indian hospital, ‘normally’ with all the interventions possible but no pain relief (1997). To my relief, my second baby, Alisha was born in a fancy US hospital which gave me a chance of natural birth amidst all the equipment (which threatened to spring into action in a heartbeat at the slightest possibility of a problem). It was like a stage performance with timed pushing, about 20 people in the room (because when my water broke it revealed meconium, so the whole pediatric team was there when I was pushing!), and there was a huge pressure for everything to go perfectly otherwise off I would go to the C-section table.

I really felt there and then that if I had another baby I’d do it at home, the hospital made me really tense and uncomfortable. I’ve always believed that birth has to be and should be a very natural process, with someone guiding you amidst the intense feeling of birth, one variation in the fetal heartrate monitor shouldn’t be made to cause panic.

My third pregnancy happened and I was quite unhappy that I would have to deliver in one of the hospitals in Pune, India. Here they don’t have a separate nursing unit for prenatal care, which was a huge let down from the very beautiful and warm places of the US. It was very disconcerting to walk amidst patients in stretchers, it made me feel like a patient too, as if I were ill. Impatient doctors, nurses, waiting endlessly in the cold halls for the doctor, all of it was making me more and more uneasy… After this the series of events which landed me in Corinna’s birthing center could just be termed as fate. I found the birthing center from the internet and at our annual trip to Goa in July I just thought I’d check it out. When Anand, my husband and I met Corinna and saw her center we were floored, we just had to have our baby there!

It was a dream vacation and dream birth all rolled into one, my mom came down from Lucknow. It was wonderful to have check ups done at home, with a stomach massage and with everything being explained to me. I knew which side the baby faced! I listened to its heartbeat, went for a relaxing walk on the beach with co-pregnant people and Corinna, had nice prenatal classes with my husband and all the advice I ever needed was always a phonecall away.

Corinna made it a point to understand my past births what my expectations were from this birth and made me very comfortable. She also held the firm belief that the birth would happen only when Anand would be present in Goa. Again things happened quite amazingly. After a long wait, I was overdue by about 2 days now, I lost my mucus plug at 8 in the morning. And immediately called Anand who was in Pune, there were 50-50 chances of his making it on time, remember it was july and this day it was raining cats and dogs. When I reached Corinna’s at around 11 my contractions which were mild had stopped and I just wanted my husband to reach because I felt that I couldn’t manage without him, my younger daughter Alisha kept clinging to me.

About 2 hrs passed with erratic contractions I even considered going home and resting because the contractions had just stopped, instead I thought I’d just go around a bit and grab a bite with my family. Just then my husband called to say he had reached Goa, I think maybe the baby heard it too because after that the contractions started hard and fast and there was no looking back!!!

Anand arrived and a huge wave of relief swept over me, I don’t think anybody would be crazy enough to welcome contractions but I was! Corinna coached me about my stance during contractions and how to breathe through the pain. Anand was also breathing with me and getting the hang of breathing, was actually making it pretty easy to deal with the waves. My mom was also there, and touching my forehead and stroking my abdomen. Quite a difference from being alone in labor! My family and Corinna were there to help me deal with the intense demands of labor.
Throughout Corinna kept checking the baby’s heartbeat, and then she suddenly got busy and advised me to get into the bathtub for a bit more comfort. The lights were dim and there was very nice music, it was raining outside and I chose to use a blue ball on one of her windows as my focal point. There is a divine perfume in her birthing room which I absolutely loved during the pregnancy too (most of the smells become nauseating to me during pregnancy). The whole environment was beautiful with my family around. Miraculously Alisha (my younger daughter) slept through and Aninditaa was with me , she deserted me during transition cause she couldn’t watch me in pain but came back in time just as the baby was getting born.
That moment I’ll never ever forget.

There was a song playing in the background a kind of a hindu prayer and I knew I was about to push. My eyes were closed and I felt a little hand stroking mine ,Aninditaa’s.Maybe if this were my first child I would have been able to ‘breath it out’ but having been coached to push before I just felt I had to push with all my strength. The head came out into Corinna’s hands and I knew the most intense pain was over and then out slid the rest of Rhea. The most sublime moment was when Corinna took her out the water. It was like a beautiful mermaid was hauled out of water and she looked a bit angry about it. Corinna just patted her back gently and she was breathing and crying angrily. The moment she came to my arms she was absolutely quiet.

I also got a chance to have a nice shower, while the family was cooing with the baby. There was no hurry to whisk her off for weighing etc . When we all settled in the birthing room bed, Corinna weighed Rhea in a soft cloth with a handheld weight which made it look the ‘stork carrier’. Alisha also woke up, and when we were looking at the placenta called it a ‘cheese pizza’!
Corinna also managed to take pictures and videos and then it was time to go home.
We had come in midmorning and left at night with a baby, it all seemed like such a seamless transition – and that’s how most births should be. Normal and natural, and without anxiety… and beautiful of course.