Sometimes a c-section is necessary, even with the most conscientious birthing mothers. Sri and Hari were well prepared to deliver Sahana naturally and vaginally, but baby Sahana wanted it differently! It is very touching and inspiring the way Sri and Hari, with tremendous wisdom and grace, rolled with the punches, and very consciously and lovingly birthed their baby into the world.When I was pregnant I had many people tell me that I should be ready to accept any situation I am faced with during labor and true to their advice I ended up having to accept the unexpected. My labor started early morning on 9/12 with surges every 5-6 minutes lasting about a minute each. The intensity increased about every 3-4 hours and the intervals and duration remained the same, however they were manageable and I was able to go about my daily routine, take a walk and even several naps. At around 1.30 AM on 9/13 the surges were pretty intense and 3 minutes apart so we decided to go to the hospital.
At the triage room they gave us the much dreaded news that I was only 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced, which was exactly what I was a week earlier. Of course I was disappointed but remained calm. I was hooked onto the baby monitor for routine monitoring and was told that I will be asked to walk for 2 hours following the monitoring and will be checked again, and might be asked to go home if things had not progressed yet. But within a few minutes I had 3 nurses in the room, the baby's heart rate had dropped to 60 beats per minutes and had remained there for about 4 minutes, so they were watching me closely, and it dropped again in another 2 minutes. So the doctor was called in immediately and I was told that I might need a C-section as the baby was under stress. The doctor rushed in within 5 minutes and the heart beat had dropped twice in the meantime. The doctor said we did not have a choice but to go for a C-section. We asked for a few minutes to discuss and the doctor agreed, but she rushed back into the room within a minute saying the heart rate had dropped again and the situation was getting pretty serious. By now, we were convinced that the reason for the C-section was genuine and consented.
Sahana was bought into the world at 3.57 PM and she had ingested quite a bit of the meconium. But after suctioning all her vitals returned to normal. We also found out after a pathology test that 15% of my placenta was compromised. So, it was either the ingested meconium or the compromised placenta that had caused her to not tolerate labor. We are very thankful to God for having sent us to the hospital at the right time. I was indeed disappointed that things turned out this way after having an absolutely normal pregnancy and after having prepared so much for a natural delivery, but I am now convinced that it is the end result that matters and am very happy that we have a healthy baby in our hands now.
While I was pregnant I made it a point to attend Shelley's prenatal yoga classes every week. I loved her classes because it gave me lot of confidence along with a sense of well being and made me cherish my pregnancy. All the 'asanas' that we did in class took off most of the usual pregnancy pains and made me relax and connect with my baby. I used to look forward to hearing her assuring and comforting words especially during the 'savasana'. In addition I also attended Carol Yeh Garner's hypnobirthing classes which also came in very handy especially during the last few weeks when sleep evaded me. The relaxation CD that she gave me helped me go into deep slumber whenever I listened to it. In addition I used a lot of the hypnobirthing breathing techniques during my 15 hour labor and I was even able to take a couple of naps while listening to the CD. I also used the CD on our way to the hospital when the surges were pretty intense. Finally, I will never forget this one hypnobirthing affirmation that helped me immensely, when things changed drastically at the hospital...'I am prepared to calmly meet whatever turn my birthing takes.'
Thank you very much Shelley, for all your support and guidance during my pregnancy and for the labor vibes that the class and you had sent me on 9/13. I am looking forward to your postpartum classes that you plan to start soon.
