The Nel Family
Beautiful Outdoor Home Water Birth During COVID-19
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_nel_family/
Born during a global pandemic. A period of uncertainty, fear and lockdown, but also during a time of mass awakening, spiritual growth and awareness, compassion, empathy and a rare time for Mother Earth to heal, a time for families to reconnect, a time for us to all go within and remember what’s important.....
On the 19th March 2020, we welcomed our little moonstone, our beacon of light, and bundle of pure joy, Luna Jewel. She chose to be born during a time of such confusion and upheaval, purely to fill our hearts with so much love, a distraction from the madness, and a reminder that all is well, all is beautiful.
On the day of Luna’s birth, I woke at what I thought was probably around 4 or 5 in the morning, slightly disappointed that I wasn’t in labour. I had been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions for a few days beforehand, periodically and never intensely, and had also lost my mucus plug Monday through Wednesday, so I was so sure that I was going to be in labour that night that I even went to bed super early in preparation.
Not long after I woke up, I changed position and instantly felt a change within my body. I stayed in bed for a while and tried not to get my hopes up, but I became increasingly uncomfortable. I really wanted to get into the bath, and it’s amazing reflecting back - having a little Pisces baby, I wanted to be in the water and in the water only from start to finish of labour and birth, nothing else felt right for me. I checked the time while the bath was running and it was 2:15am! I got in and literally just floated and then clung to the side for each wave/contraction. I knew after about 20 minutes that I was in actual labour. Contractions were coming regularly and steadily. I kept silently repeating to myself, my affirmations that I repeated daily during my pregnancy - surrender and trust. Not long after, Luke came into the bathroom and sat with me, and soon realised that I was definitely in labour as well. There was no talking from my end through any contraction.
I had been preparing for this moment for 9 solid months, consciously, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. I was so excited to put into place and practice all that I had learnt. I didn’t practice any hypnobirthing techniques, but I did practice breath work every day and then combined that breathwork with gentle yoga every night from 30 weeks. I actually made a point of focusing on my breath continually throughout my pregnancy. I don’t think we realise how healing and necessary a deeeeep breath is. So that’s all I did basically, from the bath to birth. I breathed and I meditated and I surrendered. Fully.
I went somewhere during my labour, another realm, an unexplainable alternate universe and I communicated with Luna the entire time. I always spoke with her about this moment when I was pregnant, and how we were going to work together as a beautiful team, and enjoy this journey for the miracle that it is, whilst also remembering that she too was on an intense journey herself.
I got out of the bath because I was feeling semi restless and thought I should lie on the couch for a bit, which I didn’t end up loving - but I was finding it difficult to communicate that to Luke in between each surge. I just wanted to focus on relaxing the muscles in my body and my face and again - breathwork, But I wasn’t comfortable. In saying that, I still managed to find an element of beauty in each contraction. I was so in awe of what my body was doing, all on it own, what it knows to do naturally, what my cells have been preprogrammed to do. I couldn’t help but appreciate and enjoy the process, by simply getting out of the way of my body, and trusting fully.
Around 3:30am Luke suggested we call Meg, our beautiful midwife, but I was soo unsure of whether it was the right moment to do so. I didn’t want to ‘waste her time’ and thought that I could potentially labour for the whole day, as my labour with Leo , was 15 hours (plus two weeks of pre-labour). Something deep in me knew that maybe I was wrong though, as I was feeling this weird pressure and almost a distant desire/signal from my body to push. So I said yes.
Meg arrived at 5am, and up until that point I laboured on the couch. Luke had filled up the pool but I just couldn’t vocalise to him that I was unable to get there. He asked me a few times and I just couldn’t answer. Surges were too close and pretty intense and I couldn’t imagine walking to the pool during one of them. So I stayed on the couch, with our precious little Leo, who lay and held me through each surge. Bless him, he just kept looking up at me with his big beautiful eyes and I swear he KNEW what was happening. He touched my face and cuddled me hard.
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