On the 6th of December 2014, I had the delightful experience to give birth to my 1st daughter and it was an extraordinary transformational sacred experience. An extraordinary Rite of Passage. I was charmed by the option of midwifery care along my pregnancy, which kept me away from visiting a GP or a hospital.
I have been using effectively the services of professional natural therapists for the past 10 years+ as my main self-care and this is how I relate to general health and wellbeing.
So I decided to give birth at home in water, in my daughterʼs bedroom. She was born in just under 8 hrs, from the very first contraction to having the delight of holding her against my heart. I had an undisturbed birth. No drugs, a natural birth process as womenʼs body have been designed to give birth, and supported with kindness and love.
Why did I choose to give birth at Home? Because I felt much relaxed and comfortable to give birth in my place with my own microbes and people, and to know that I will not have to worry about getting dressed and be in my car to go to a hospital when my labour will start. It was just making more sense from this perspective. In my experience, a hospital didnʼt seem an appropriate place to give birth unless of a case of emergency.
So what happened at my home birth?
I did some part of my labour while I was sleeping, waking up few times dreaming I was giving birth and having contractions but I thought it was just a dream because every time I woke up I couldnʼt feel any contractions, so I just fell asleep again. Until I woke up with a strong contraction and realised I was going to birth my daughter within the next few hours and that my contractions were real, not only in my dream!
I used some essential oils for my lower back pain and to activate the contractions. I was given massages on my lower back and hips but most importantly I was surrounded with a lot of love from my husband Victor and our doula Lisa. They were in the background if I needed anything and this allowed me to be the main actress of my birthing experience. My midwife arrived just in time before I pushed my daughter into this world.
Thank you to the natural pain killer: natural oxytocin that was released in my body because I felt, secure, comfortable, and loved…I was in a dream state during the whole process but very present, embracing every second,
connecting to myself and to my baby. Living every second as they unfolded, thinking I was going to meet my lovely daughter very soon. The expression “going with the flow” never made more sense while I was in labour. I moved through each contraction, going beyond the intensity not knowing what will be next, trusting my baby was coming soon and that she knew naturally what to do and I was there to help her.
Standing, moving my hips in circles like my friend Maha taught me in her class, walking a lot, just helping my baby to make her way down with the gravity. I was filled with my own inner-strength, my trust to know how to give birth, surrendering to my bodyʼs wisdom, connecting and listening to my babyʼs needs. I was in another state of consciousness, but remember clearly going with the flow, welcoming every contractions/expansions, working with my baby to help her making her way down as easy and fast as I could for myself and for her. It was an incredible transformational experience, and I always remember it with great joy and excitement, which fills my heart with an expansive feeling of love.
How important is this? Every time I look at my children I feel so connected and happy remembering the way they were born. Not only for them but for me. I loved giving birth to my babies. I cannot say enough how important it is to be surrounded by positive people that will give a pregnant woman a non-invasive, gentle, loving support.
From the day I knew I was pregnant my mantra was: “donʼt only wish for a beautiful birth, prepare for one”.
It was an interesting process for me, which started days after my pregnancy, with a rather worried question that was very real: “How am I going to get this baby out through this small passage!?”
So I started my researches, watched few positive water birth videos, various documentaries on birth, reading and practicing hypno-birthing techniques, attended an EmbodyBirth™ workshop, practiced yoga (been practicing yoga and meditation for the past 10 years), had some pregnancy massage, did some acupuncture, osteopathy session, made love with my husband, walked in forests and beaches, swam in rivers and oceans, and did everything that made me feel amazing to prepare for birth.
To give birth, I felt the need to strip away all of my fears that could possibly hold me from enjoying this sacred experience. The process started by trusting myself, trusting my body and letting go of my mind.
Trust is all a woman is left with when she is in the process of birthing her baby. No one else can birth her baby for her, her and her baby are the one who are connected within this mysterious dance of life, and they are the only one to hold the key to this sacred journey. I was amazed to experience the intelligence of my body, allowing myself to let unfold the natural birthing process with the cocktail of all hormones flowing through my cells.
During labour, your body will speak to you; you will have to listen and do what you feel that needs to be done to progress to birth your baby. This is very important and crucial to trust the process and be undisturbed by external factors but rather supported with love and kindness.
I decided to bring my daughter into this world with all my unconditional love, my trust, my strength, giving birth the way I imagined and visualised in a safe environment.
Giving birth at home in a swimming pool, into my daughterʼs bedroom surrounded with people I love and love me.
Women are powerful, giving birth is powerful.
Birthing a baby is an extreme joyful experience, a very important Rite of Passage for the woman and her baby who enters this world. It is important to treat this life event as such and allow the woman to be the main actress of this experience.
On the 14th of February 2016, I was giving birth to my son in less than 4 hours. Each baby I birthed felt like I was birthing a quality that was buried deep inside my being and fully activated when I became a mother. I birthed the mother for Nayara and I birthed the mother for Hayan leaving me deeply transformed as a woman. They both brought me a gift and guided me in territories I never explored before.
Feeling my babies pushing themselves out into this world was the most intense, extraordinary powerful feeling of satisfaction. It was such a joyful and rewarding experience to bring them to life surrounded with so much Love from my husband, doula and midwife. I could just hold my babies against my heart and enjoy these very precious moments of their very first breath with no disturbance.
I wish every woman to find this inner-strength within themselves and allow themselves to live this event as a sacred experience where they have the choice and power. Giving birth doesnʼt have to be a traumatic and fearful event
where a woman is rushed in an emergency room of a hospital, or invasively monitored for progress or over assisted which often end up in a cascade of interventions.
Giving birth is a timeless organic process and very different for every woman. It needs to be respected and honoured as such with love and kindness.
Cécile Colares
www.cecilecolares.com
