One regular but beautiful morning in in October 2020, I took the pregnancy test and was waiting for the result with little to no enthusiasm as we have been trying to have a baby for almost a year. I convinced my mind that this would be a negative result as well, I just glanced at the result and to my surprise it had the pretty pink line which indicated that it was positive. I just couldn’t believe it, I was torn between a rush of adrenaline but also a slight fear that it may just be a false positive, so I took another test right away to confirm the result and it was POSITIVE too. I jumped out of excitement and couldn’t contain it any longer so I woke up my husband and told him and he was super elated.

We were FINALLY 🎉 pregnant 🤰 !!! Then started our planning on which doctor to consult and where we want to deliver our baby, we were sure of one thing though- we wanted to have a natural birthing process! In the following days we heard a lot about Sanctum Natural Birth Centre and decided it is the right place to welcome our baby into this world. So without hesitation we scheduled an appointment at Sanctum.We wanted everything to be just perfect for our bundle of joy. 😊 Our first appointment at Sanctum was with Vijaya krishnan Mam who is an inspiration for us to opt natural birthing. We were greeted with a warm and welcoming smile and that gave me a sense of reassurance and confidence and after leaving the appointment I knew this was the place I want to deliver my child at.

Then started my journey to prep for the Delivery day! I was slightly overweight during my pregnancy, so Sanctum gave me a diet plan so that the baby could grow and I wouldn’t. In the 4th month of my pregnancy; we started living with my parents and as you all know Indian parents and elders love to feed a pregnant woman and do not believe in diets. It was a challenge to convince them and follow a diet but, I was persistent in following the diet plan as much as possible 😊 My weight was consistently monitored on every follow-up visit at Sanctum where Anne Mary mam was also monitoring me throughout all the checkups. Surprisingly to me and everyone around I only gained 4.5 kgs till the 8th month of my pregnancy.😃 In addition to my diet, I started yoga sessions with Sanjana at Sanctum and those classes were really helpful for my back pain. The yoga helped my pelvic muscles get stronger and my body was more flexible and getting ready for natural birthing. I got the necessary scans done in every trimester. There came TIFFA scan in the second trimester and the radiologist informed us that there might be slight difference in our baby’s kidney size. My husband was tensed but I was trying to stay calm as it isn’t healthy for or the baby. But, as humans it is natural for worry and doubt to creep in so much picked up the phone and called Vijaya mam and heard everything patiently over the call. She only said one thing that I distinctly remember, “First, calm down and can we do anything now ? I said No. Is it practically possible to treat fetus now? I said No again. She assured my husband and me not to worry.” There is some kinda reassurance that we get when Vijaya mam steps in 🙂 We got a rescan and to our relief there was no red flag. In the following days , Udaya from Sanctum had started Lamaze classes and made me and my spouse understand how important it is for both of us to attend those sessions together. My husband was willing to be with me in all the phases of pregnancy so it made things easier for lamaze sessions too.

After that came the major problem in my last trimester where cases in India were spiking. In my 32nd week, me and my parents tested COVID positive and my husband tested negative. We were careful but there wasn’t a clue how we got infected. I was panicking and I informed the Sanctum center right away. Dr.Rajat got in touch with me and treated me during covid, I was given limited amount of antibiotic medicine for 3 days and the some vitamins. It was a mental a physical turmoil for me as I was worried about the baby, but had no physical or mental strength to deal with anything around me. Dr. Rajat assured that baby would be fine and asked me to be calm all the time. I self quarantined myself so did my parents and sadly my husband had to stay away from me because he was negative. It was a tough time because I had to stay away from him where I needed him the most. For 2 weeks Dr.Rajat monitored me every day and made sure I was doing well. After 2 weeks, my whole family took the test again and to my shock, I still tested postive and my husband also tested positive inspite of staying away from us. I started feeling a little better around the 3rd week , I got a retest and tested negative. Now my biggest fears and doubt crept in and I was wondering what I would do if my labour starts? I mean in 8th month we’ve heard about such cases. And now my husband was not supposed to be with me for 2 weeks again so, I went down to the centre when and Anne mam informed me that I needed to be ready with a hospital bag and after 3rd week of May I was due anytime. She asked me to walk atleast 4k steps per day and perform some more yoga poses which I followed. In the mean time thankfully my husband tested negative, but to be on safer side my husband had quarantined for an extra week even after testing negative. I was wondering what would I do if labour starts? He can’t be with me and how would I go through with the labour the entire time? But luckily labour didn’t start and he was back home. We got the hospital bag ready and waited for our little one to enter the world.

The day had finally arrived – it all started on the morning of June 6th! I went for morning walk, and I felt something was different that day. Being a first time mom, I couldn’t even understand that it was a contraction. But since I attended Lamaze sessions, I didn’t panic and picked up the phone and called a fellow mother who recently delivered her baby naturally at the center. She made me understand it might be false labour so I went home and took a long hot shower and slept for a while. But the discomfort didn’t go away. We were thinking maybe the discomfort is the contraction and we started monitoring them from 3:37pm in the afternoon and after 5:30 we picked up the phone and informed at the center and shared the contraction details. At 8pm the contractions were more intense and that’s when we went down to the centre and there both Vijaya krishnan mam and nurse Vijaya Kumari were waiting for us. I was 5.5cms dilated at that time. The contractions started getting intense and I was tired and fell asleep between every contraction which was quite normal. My husband and nurse Vijaya Kumari were trying to calm me down but I couldn’t. Early labour was over and active labour started for me and I couldn’t calm myslef down and I was asking them any pain relief remedies as my back started hurting badly and I couldn’t even stand up.

I kept asking Vijaya mam please give me something so that I can stand up and she said there’s a way but it would be more painful and she wouldn’t suggest that. I said I’m ready to take anything for relief for my backpain and took distilled water injections. I can’t even explain the pain I felt at that time and my husband couldn’t see me in that immense pain. But after a couple of contractions, I could stand up straight on my own and after that pushing stage has started. My water broke. I got down to squatting position and I heard my husband telling me that crowning started and he could see baby’s head. I didn’t trust him at that time because I felt he might be telling that to calm me down. The nurse in the room also told me that crowning has started and I could feel it. In 25 min after pushing for several times in cat cow posture, suddenly I heard a baby crying for 20 seconds and was wondering may be it was from a neighbouring room. After that all I could feel was no pain or discomfort and Vijaya mam constantly calling me but I don’t know why I stopped responding.

Vijaya mam patiently handled me there and told the baby was born and asked me to roll over so that she could hand me over our little baby boy. I rolled over and Vijaya mam has handed over me our little bundle of joy and all I could see was him in the whole room and I forgot everything happened till then. My husband was still in shock after seeing me go through all the labour process and tears rolled down his eyes. Many people expect mom’s to be emotional at such times but I think it’s really ok not to express their most important and beautiful emotions.

Skin to skin contact was made and we were talking with our baby as we did when he was inside the womb and suddenly he started responding. We were in utter shock by listening to his responses and Vijaya mam was super excited after listening to his responses for each and every sentence. After skin to skin, I gave him the first feed and then came an intresting part where my husband didn’t know how to handle a new born because he have never done this before. But eventually he learnt how to hold this little munchkin and he is taking care of him most of the nights now while I’m settling down after delivery and taking some rest.

This is our birth story and as a couple we are in this together from day 1.

Our nurse vijaya Kumari was also providing immense support for me by trying to calm me down even though I was cranky and post delivery also she was so helpful by educating me and my spouse how to handle the baby and in lactation support. Nurse Sangeetha and Saroja also played an important role for post delivery support and lactation support. I’d also like to thank aayas for taking care of me post delivery.

I can proudly say that we made a correct descision by opting for Sanctum natural birth centre and we’re very grateful that our little bundle of joy was born in the hands of Vijaya mam. 💚