For those who know me more closely, they know that our two youngest children, Gianluca and Valentina, were born after I was 40. At this age in the field of medicine, a pregnancy is considered high-risk. During my prenatal care with Gianluca I had multiple ultrasounds and evaluations with the specialist in high-risk pregnancies. This despite the fact that from the first ultrasound everything looked normal and I was very healthy. When I got pregnant with Valentina, I wanted to have a different experience. To make that decision I had to overcome fear and put aside everything that could go wrong and focus on everything that could go well. I sought services at a birth center where the person who attends is a midwife. Yes, it’s true, I was risking a lot, but for what I would gain, it was worth taking that risk.

The entire pregnancy was super healthy, the baby’s anatomy ultrasound came out normal. Marsha, my midwife, was very attentive to each stage of my pregnancy without stressing me with fear of the dangers but always reassuring me that I could do this, that my body had been designed for this.

On the day of the birth, labor started and I notified my midwife. She instructed me to go to the birth center when the contractions were closer and that’s what I did. During the first few hours I was focused on my labor and on connecting my mind with my body to allow it to give birth to our baby. Everything was going according to what I had imagined until the pain intensified to such an extent that my mind got out of control and I started screaming,I think more out of fear than pain. I remember asking them to help me. Right after asking for help, I was able to react and think, how are they going to help me if this is my labor? If this something that only I can do? and it was then that I was able to concentrate again on my breathing and our baby was born without any trauma to her body or mine.

Difficulties in life are not much different than childbirth. We always have options and it’s up to us to decide on what we are going to focus on, on what can go wrong or on what we can gain. The birth of the baby was not possible without the labor. Likewise, overcoming the biggest battles that we face in life cannot be possible without first fighting the battle. Labor is difficult, but the reward gives you such joy that it does not match any other experience. To conquer the battles, you first have to conquer the mind, set the goal, and stay focused until the end. We were born for this, to be able to overcome the greatest battles.

If you would like to see the video of the birth, you can visit the Flourish Birth Center website in the births section.

The video and photographs were taken by Kristie Perez Photography: https://www.kpphotoinc.com

My midwife was Marsha Gross, APRN, CNM, MSN: https://www.flourishbirthcenter.com/