Birthing of Lola Tulsi Wood

On the 29th April, 2007, Lola Tulsi Wood was born in the Garden Room of the Natural Birthing Centre in Assagao. She arrived at 12:22 in the afternoon of her father's birthday, the greatest present ever. Our first contraction was in the evening before at 9pm, and we spent the first 5 hours of contractions lying in bed breathing deeply until we felt ready to drive round to the birthing centre. To our surprise, on phoning Corinna, there was a bit of a queue, it seems the 29th was a popular day for baby arrivals. So when we reached the centre Haagan and Reema's little boy had just entered the world, and Natalie was awaiting her son also. We were calmly ushered to the Garden Room, where we made ourselves comfortable underneath the mango tree and fairy lights. It was a beautiful setting.

As the contractions became more intense, and we moved around the room squatting, leaning, crouching, and lying, we were beginning to anticipate the pushing stage. At 5am our pushing contractions began and we thought by 6am we might have a baby. False hope unfortunately, as each hour ticked by we couldn't figure out what was happening. Was there a problem? Were we not pushing correctly? And then, to everyone’s surprise, out shot a ball of fluid. Following this obstacle, this was in the way between the baby’s head and the cervix, Lola’s head progressed past the pelvis and positioned for birth. Some strong and “full power” pushes later, Lola arrived. Facing the wrong way gazing to the stars, she landed on the bed with a bump at the front, rather than the back of her head. It was an amazing sight as she was passed to her Mum for their first cuddle.

The days following have been calm and full of wonder, and we are sure this due to such a positive and natural birthing experience. Thank you to Corinna, Julia, Peter and Snoopy for making our birthing experience a proud event.