OUR BIRTH STORY

Natural, unmedicated, home Lotus Birth. Malaya's journey was pretty quick- she arrived in just over an hour!

The day before

The day before Malaya has arrived we felt creative.

The energy of the day- Tz'ikin (Eagle) supported manifesting our visions into reality.

Angelo painted me to capture my pregnant body. We knew it could be our last chance to do it. He didn't finish because it was getting dark outside. We thought he could continue the day after but Malaya had a different plan.😉

I also strongly felt like painting that day. We had 8 small canvases and each of them was used to paint nahuales (Mayan energies), apart of one that held the painting of our baby in my womb that I created a few months before. 

That day I finished painting the last one- K'at and felt complete. Ajmaq, Tz'ikin, Ix, B'atz, Q'uanil and K'at were all on our altar. I didn't know at that time that I am painting nahuales of her day sign, her mission, her conception and her trecena. I prayed that they support us. 

In the evening I started to feel nauseous and I knew Malaya is coming soon. We closed the altar and went to sleep but I was partly awake the whole time. At 2 am my waters broke. I felt totally at peace. I gently woke Angelo up to tell him, he sat up straight immediately as if stroked by a lightening 😂 ''Dzidziuś is coming!'' he said. I laughed because I knew we still had a lot of time. I asked him to go back to sleep to conserve energy for tomorrow. I sat by the altar and prayed feeling immense calmness and gratitude.

THE BIG DAY

We woke up early and admired a beautiful sunrise- the sky was orange, pink and red. A perfect, quiet morning 😍 We listened to the birds expressing their joy of life through beautiful songs, opened our altar and shared prayers and songs together, preparing for a big moment. 

After 3 pm I felt my first contraction. What an intense feeling! I thought it would start very lightly and gradually increase but it was strong from the very beginning. We informed our landlady Estela who has been providing us with an incredible support and care since we moved into her home. She wanted to call our comadrona Teshita but I told her to wait because I thought we still had a lot of time...

Shortly after, I found myself kneeling on the bed, getting in and out of space. Estela encouraged me to walk around- I managed to walk for a few minutes but I couldn't hold myself anymore so I tried to go back to bed. On my way there I felt a very strong contraction that brought me to my knees in front of the altar in our bedroom that we created for Malaya and I stayed there for a while. Teshita arrived and asked if I wanted to be checked- I refused but after some time I decided she could check me. Angelo helped me to get into bed. Estela, her sister and her daughters were bringing up the water to fill up the pool as we aimed for the water birth. 

As soon as I got on the bed it has really started. I was on my knees, feeling extremely intense contractions and I knew I didn't need to be checked anymore because Malaya is coming NOW. I remember someone asking if I wanted to transfer to the pool but the water wasn't warm enough and I wasn't able to move anyway. 

Everything around stopped. I was not aware of my surroundings at all, I had no clue who was in the room. All I could feel was our baby trying to get out and Angelo's loving, calm and steady presence as he was holding me, ready to receive Malaya. The portal was open. I closed my eyes and screamed like I never screamed before. I felt my yoni opening. I knew with the next push Malaya's head will be out. I closed my eyes and saw explosions of light as I pushed. I heard Angelo saying her head is out and welcoming her into this world. He encouraged me to push again. I did and the rest of her body came out. It was a matter of seconds! I heard a loud cry. Angelo caught our baby and passed her on to me. 

She was in my arms and I held her tightly, fully present, experiencing the best moment of my life. I cry every time I think about it. I looked into Angelo's eyes feeling deep love for the man that gifted me the most precious gift I could ask for. A man who held me the whole time and now holds our daughter in his arms as I am writing these words. His courage and determination to prepare himself for receiving his daughter and becoming a father impresses me so much. My love for him grows and matures more and more every day. I am so grateful that the first touch Malaya felt arriving into this world was her father's. 

Malaya was born at 4:25pm, my labour was complete in just over an hour 🥳 I don't think anybody expected it to happen so fast!

We wished for her to have a peaceful transition into this world so we decided to give her a lotus birth. (More about our experience with the Lotus Birth HERE). We didn't cut the cord and decided to let her disconnect from her placenta when she was ready. It happened 4 days after, in front of me, Angelo and our comadrona Teshita who came to check on us that day. I thought it was very special that Malaya waited for her to be present during her second birth. Teshita has proven to be an incredible comadrona who respected all our wishes. I told her that I don't want any assistance during birth unless something unexpected happens and Angelo needs support. She made herself so invisible I didn't even know she was in the room. She did not interfere at all and I was actually surprised to see her on the video later on. She's a very experienced and knowledgeable, traditional Mayan comadrona but of course our wishes were unusual (you can find my birth plan HERE) and she wasn’t familiar with Lotus Birth at all. Thankfully she never tried to push anything on us and fully respected all our decisions.

Baby Malaya decided to be born in Guatemala, in a beautiful house right by the magical Atitlan lake. We didn’t plan it but we had to stay here because of the Covid lockdowns.

I am really grateful it happened here, I couldn’t have imagined a better scenario for us. 

The bigger plan turned out to be better than what we have planned!

Experiencing this amazing birth on my own terms has empowered me so much! I feel stronger than ever. This incredible moment has created a huge impact. I know it will be influencing the rest of our lives. Our perception has shifted on so many levels. 

I'm forever grateful for this gift 🥰 

Malaya means “freedom”. Her nickname is Alay- “a gift/ offering”. That’s also the name we gave to her placenta- an angel that was growing together with her in my womb.

You are free. Your potential is limitless. You can be whoever you choose to be. We love you so much!