We weren’t really expecting the blue line on the home pregnancy kit, but 4 tests and 1 ultrasound later there was no denying it – we were expecting our first baby!! Once the initial surprise wore off, we started thinking of what kind of birth we wanted. I didn’t really see myself lying flat on my back huffing and puffing and screaming through labour; this got me jumpstarted on reading up on different birthing techniques. From Lamaze to Alexander to Bradley I had them all covered. Then I heard about Hypnobirthing. From the material online it seemed the most esoteric – which is probably why it made me most curious. One trip to the library later I was hooked.

Ginny’s classes not only reinforced our beliefs but gave us a whole new perspective on how beautiful birthing could be. There was a tiny seed of doubt on whether we’d be able to pull it off successfully but just had to keep reminding myself that it would happen if I really wanted it to. Soon enough all our convictions (and our perineum massage sessions!) were put to the test. I’d been on a major spring cleaning expedition, that too after a full working day, with DH making constant jokes about my nesting instincts. On the night of the 25th, a day after I’d finished lining that last drawer, I lost my mucus plug. Mild surges started at 4am the next morning. Both of us couldn’t stop grinning for a while – we were about to meet our baby!! Had a leisurely brekkie, nap and lunch; by now I was beginning to feel uncomfortable and a little anxious – but when DH read the relaxation scripts I started dozing off again. By 4pm the surges were 5 min apart; it can’t be much longer we thought – by 5:30 we were at Thomson. Paul Tseng came in at 6pm for what I thought would be my only VE, only to inform me that I was all of 3cm dilated. But he said that it would definitely be that night, so should just stay in our room and wait for things to move along.

By late evening, I was completely centered and in “the zone”, just breathing and focusing on my surges, while DH and mom sprayed my clothes with essential oil, practiced acupressure for pain relief and kept the Rainbow CD on the whole while. The surges had gotten 2 mins apart, and although I could hear Ginny’s niggling voice in my head saying that interval between surges was no indication of how well labour was progressing, I wanted to go back to the labour room in the hope that it would be soon now. True enough, at 10 pm, 18 hrs after it all started, the nurse told us we were only 5 cm dilated (yes I succumbed to another VE).

Then, for the nth time that evening, she asked me what pain relief I wanted. Ok, am not proud to admit to this, but all hell kind of broke loose after that. In the birthing room I raved, ranted, begged, cried and threatened DH for an epidural. It wasn’t the discomfort as much as plain tiredness. After all this while if I was only halfway through, how much more time would I really take to cross the finish line? The nurse was more than wiling to call the anesthesiologist immediately; that’s when I saw a side to DH that I never knew existed. He bought time with the nurse and started bargaining with me. Out came the warm rice socks, back rubs, Rainbow CD and the deepening scripts. That didn’t work too long. He ultimately had to give in, but persuaded me to try Nitrous Oxide first. But even that was no free lunch – only a minimum of 5 mins of squatting entitled me to 10 mins of the mask (which I was loving from the word go). Did this till about 1am, by this time I was too tired to move…..and also brilliantly lightheaded! The nurse came in for my 3rd VE; but by this time I’d learnt my lesson and requested her not to tell me how far gone I was. I was fully dilated but she went out and told mom there was no telling how much longer it would be – since I wasn’t “pushing”. Thankfully by then the nurses had given up hope by then and left us alone.

I don’t even know at what point I’d started breathing down. My water released soon after the nurse left. I had begun to feel the baby bearing down, but was concentrating too hard on the sensation to alert DH to the fact. However, around 2ish when he thoughtfully went to place a warm rice sock at my perineum, he thought he saw some hair down there. He alerted the nurse who went and called Dr. Paul. Soon the Dr was standing at the end of my bed – very kindly he didn’t switch on the lights but had the nurse holding a torch to my nether regions, as he tried to gauge how I was doing. The head was crowning; and he only calmly encouraged me and urged me to ‘follow that instinct’. A couple of surges later, our bundle of joy was born and on my bare chest, trying to find his way to mummy’s nipple. He was born wide awake and quiet, his eyes taking us both in – born, just as we had hoped, without pain. The placenta birthed naturally and I required only 2 stitches. DH and me spent an hour in the labour room with the baby marveling at just how beautiful and perfect our little darling was.

PS : Dr Paul was really thoughtful and admire his caring and gentle ways in spite of being roused from his beauty sleep at 2am!!