I am a new mother. Motherhood came to me only after I drifted to my 30s. Despite the general pessimism surrounding advanced reproductive age, I always envisioned a natural conception and a normal delivery without an epidural. And I succeeded in getting precisely that. This is my pregnancy story.
My husband and I started seriously “trying” after 6 years of marriage as emotional and financial stability was crucial to us in starting a family. To my utter dismay, anyone who is over 18 (yes , I witnessed it first-hand) or is ever married, has a piece of advice for a couple who is yet to become pregnant after an year or two into marriage. What is magnanimously lent out as well-meaning advice often becomes a source of intense stress for the couple to the extent that childless married people, especially women, tend to become more and more withdrawn. Most of the time, we as a couple preferred to maintain a dignified silence whenever the uncomfortable, personal question was popped up.
Our non-chalant attitude towards pregnancy was a bother for many of our relatives. Well-meaning relatives turned into self-appointed advisors. At times, the advice appeared genuine, and there were also times when it took on the form of “veiled criticism”.
Childless couple would very well identify with me when I say this: First time they advise you, second time they advise you again, the third time you run when you see them. Usually the series of advice starts to repeatedly play in your mind like a CD that has outdone its time, yet continues to play. And finally, you and your partner end up in a reputed clinic in the “safe hands “of an equally reputed gynecologist whose claim to fame, reportedly, is making “childless couples conceive”.
When I turned 33, we visited a successful gynecologist. She did a routine check up and enquired if my periods were regular to which I answered in affirmative. “For the first 6 months we will go the natural way. Since both of you are working, I will let you know the most suitable dates to establish contact. If that is unsuccessful, we will do a deep dive into ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies). Also, your husband should get his sperm count done.”
Following this, the doctor flipped open her prescription pad and quickly scribbled a few important pointers, which included no family history of diabetes or hypertension, no major surgery , etc.. We followed up with the doctor for 2 months and realized that instead of looking out for the most suitable dates, which the doctor would let us know via transvaginal ultrasonography, we on our own could utilize the 15-day fertility window period. Why should we count only on the dates the doctor would suggest as the most fertile? We stopped visiting the doctor after two months.
Left to our own, we did not meet with any success in the succeeding 5 months. In my quest for a natural conception, I scoured the internet for days together, and after careful consideration was convinced that if I was to conceive, yoga would play a major role. I did a thorough research on the yoga practices that helped childless couples conceive. I also convinced my husband to get started on the same. We practiced yoga for an hour in the morning. I also kept up with the practice for an hour in the evening. Homemade food became our meal of choice. I trained my mind to believe that the tastiest tea was sugarless tea, and restricted my tea consumption to a cup a day. In January 2018, I was offered a demanding role in a company of my dreams. Neither did I shy away from the opportunity nor did we stop in our attempts to get pregnant. Regular practice of pranayam ensured that stressful situations never got the better of me, and I conceived naturally in December of the same year. For the first three months after conception, my yoga practice involved only the most basic pranayam exercises, namely, *anulom vilom pranayama and **bhastrika pranayam. From the second trimester onward, I began the practice of “***Pawanamuktaasana” series, and I continued the practice till the day of going into labor. I continued to remain physically active without over-exerting myself during any trimester of pregnancy.
What I want to emphasise here is the tremendous amount of mental strength that yoga gave me. Yoga gave me a strength which made me see light amidst nay-sayers. While I was in labor, and the contractions were 4 minutes apart, I did a few butterfly poses, and to this day I remember the perplexed look on the nurses’ faces. Of course, like every woman who has ever given birth on this planet, I was totally exhausted by the time I reached the penultimate stage of natural delivery, which is to push the baby out in rhythm with the contractions. Chanting the name of almighty, drawing in the deepest breaths possible, I did it beautifully.
My pregnancy experience has made me believe in the immense potential that lies in the intelligent coupling of yoga with modern medicine. That is to say, had it not been for yoga and a healthy lifestyle, it is unlikely that my pregnancy health parameter readings would have always fallen in the healthy range for a successful pregnancy; had it not been for the knowledge and skill of my doctor or the modern medical equipment and facilities, my doctor would not have been able to accurately diagnose as to whether I was really doing well on the necessary pregnancy health parameters.
As I am writing this, my seven month old son is making cooing and gurgling sounds, and to my ears these are the sweetest sounds I have heard in years. When I look at him, I know my efforts were worth the try.
Credits:
*, **Patanjali Yog Peeth
***Bihar School of Yoga
Write Left Right 
So inspirational.. ❤
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