#vrikshambirthstory Hi Anu mam, I would like to share my pregnancy and birth experience here. I and my husband are your pre-pregnancy, early pregnancy, labor management, breastfeeding, and infant care session students.

He stood beside me like a rock throughout this journey. I got married in Jan 2021. I had a PCOS issue and after consulting a doctor, I took medicines for ovulation. In Jan 2022, I got pregnant. To me and my husband’s dismay, I had a miscarriage in 5 weeks. We got devastated. Only at that time, we came across your Insta video on miscarriage. That really helped us get out of our guilt that we are not totally responsible for the mishap and we need to thank our bodies for helping us out. From then our relationship with Vriksham started and we attended the Pre-pregnancy session. We followed the lifestyle changes you taught us in class.

After 6 months of trying, we saw two magical pink lines on Sep 2022. We attended your Early pregnancy session and followed all the diet and lifestyle changes. When I was around 6 months, I attended your labor management session followed by the breast-feeding session. Thanks to you, I learned all the techniques to cope up during labor. And got the confidence that I can breastfeed my baby.

In the mid of March, I came to my mom’s place for delivery. I was due on May 25th. I was determined to complete 40 weeks of pregnancy. Around May 23 I had mild contractions and got admitted around 2 noon. Our doctor advised me to walk for the labor to progress. The sipper water bottle was of great help and my husband motivated me whenever I got tired.

Around 11 pm, the doctor examined and I was just 1 cm dilated. I started getting contractions every 2 mins each one lasting for 40 seconds but was still 1 cm dilated. Each contraction was intense but thanks to Anu mam, I used the vocalization technique to cope with each contraction. On 24th May around 1 am-midnight, my water broke and there was a bloody show. But I was only 2cm dilated. My husband helped me by giving hot water bag and motivated me whenever I got exhausted.

I was given an enema around 4 am in the morning. Around 8 am, the doctor examined me and told me that my labor was progressing. The pain got more intense at around 9.30 am, I got the urge to push and was shifted to the labor room. My husband was right beside me and within 3-4 pushes, I delivered a girl baby vaginally with episiotomy at 10 am. I had skin-to-skin and was able to breastfeed my baby within an hour.

I am fortunate for attending the breastfeeding session and infant care while I was pregnant. Otherwise, I would have not known about the importance of breastfeeding, the demand-supply principle, cluster feeding, the baby’s sleep routine, and so on. You broke all the myths around breastfeeding and newborn care it’s really helping me.

Now am exclusively breastfeeding my baby and have the confidence to continue the same. I was overwhelmed, exhausted, and having a roller coaster of emotions for the first 2 weeks post-delivery. I was recovering from birth, an episiotomy tear. I am grateful that I got support from my family. I took my sweet time to bond with the baby and now there is one happy mom and a happy baby.

Thanks to Anu mam for explaining about postpartum recovery. I wish all the new mommies out there get the right knowledge to have an empowered birth and parenting journey you played an integral part in all the ups and lows of my birthing and parenting journey. I wish all good health and happiness to you, keep empowering women like me. Lots of love to Ahan and Ayan.