[bigletter]This is our unmedicated natural birth story: November 22, 2020 will forever go down as one of the most important days in our lives. When we found out we were expecting back in April, our due date we were assigned was December 1, 2020, which would would us to a full forty weeks. So a few days after we hit 37 weeks in mid-November, we knew that Miss Avia Ocean would be making an appearance anytime after that.
In the early hours of the morning on the 22nd of November, our story unfolded. Today, I am so excited to be sharing our natural unmedicated birth story (from Instagram stories that I took during that time) with all of you.[/bigletter]
6:13 am
After getting checked in at triage, we waited for our doctor to come see us. I right away played my "BEBE: Labour" playlist, full of calming music which reminded us of our yoga studio. Essential oils were rubbed on Monika's temples and wrists, and when the doctor did come, she said it felt like she walked into a spa. She immediately got us admitted to labour + delivery!
7:45 am
While Monika in full on labour mode, I did what I could to ensure the space was comfortable, dimming the lights, keeping her essential oils coming, and offering water ("still or sparkling") at any given opportunity. Monika was an absolute champion and powered through her labour in a mesmerizing way.
10:02 am
With no medication, no epidural, and the sheer strength of her own core and her own mental capacity, Monika delivered Avia Ocean into the world at 9:32 am on November 22, 2020. I was literally weeping the whole time, and after delivery, Monika safely delivered her placenta. Here, about half an hour later, I took our first selfie as a family.
4:32 am
Monika's water broke at 2:45 am, and she came back to bed to wake me up and tell me. We knew this meant we had to get to the hospital asap, so we both showered, got ready, gathered all our things, and loaded into the car to head to the hospital. Monika called her mom and I called my sister and sister-in-law. They both stayed up on FaceTime after having coffee and sending us good vibes.
6:33 am
We were moving quickly through the contractions (minute long ones, every 3 to 5 minutes), and I quickly got us settled into our beautiful L+D room. Our nurse was just ending her shift, and actually said she was sad to be leaving us because she loved the energy in the space.
8:57 am
Around this time, Monika told us she was ready to push (somehow, her body just knew), and everyone around us prepared for the delivery. Bright lights came on, a whole slew of tools were being setup, and I changed the playlist from Labour to Delivery, which included songs from our wedding.
We did the prenatal classes, we did a video tour of the hospital, the triage, and labour and delivery room, we had pre-packing outfits, we watched hundreds of birth vlogs and birth stories on YouTube. And all of this definitely prepared us for what to expect, but the entire experience was also unlike anything I could have imagined.
I will never be able to look at my wife as only my life partner; now I see a powerful confident woman who is so in tune with her body and her emotions and was able to power through the most intense pain and sensation of her life. To be able to today, write this unmedicated natural birth story, I feel truly proud of her.
I do have to say, I am so happy that somehow in those moments, I reached for my phone and took little snippets of videos. Because honestly, it's already begun to feel like a blur. And I'm so glad I managed to take so many videos. We have our birth vlog and our birth story posted, but also what it was like bringing home our newborn baby girl. Its a fine line to be in the moment and to capture memories, and I think I did a great job of balancing both.
Thankfully, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't really affect the whole experience much except that we couldn't have any visitors, which actually wasn't the worst thing in the world as the three of us were getting to know each other.
