Mira the miracle

Jyoti Marianne Bahri takes us through the birthing of her granddaughter, who emerged a fighter, influencing everyone involved

- Jyoti Marianne Bahri

Birth. What does it mean? Everybody knows but still has a different understanding of it. According to the dictionary, it is the emergence of a baby from its mother's body; the start of life as a physically separate being.

It brings memories of the birth of my children and grandchildren. A few years ago, my daughter Lavanya was in the last months of her pregnancy when complications arose. The doctor induced labour to save the child despite not reaching full term. The water had leaked out, and there was the danger of infection. Months before, we had worked together on the preparation for the birthing of my first grandchild: physical exercises, visualisations, breathing, and inner connection with the child. Amazingly, after the first dose of induction, the contractions came on very strong. We were encouraging the child to take the plunge, entering the tunnel of the unknown. I felt it would enable mother and child to go through the birthing process in a better way, being connected with the child-feeling the child and working together supporting it, and ensuring it that it would be supported and welcomed on the other side.

Preparing for childbirth

I made my daughter aware that, in natural delivery, we have a choice to deliver the baby in loving contact with it through conscious breathing. It gives us a way of sensing the child, riding the waves of the labour pains, instead of being thrown about and overwhelmed by them, and, in the end, ejecting the child and throwing out an almost unwanted guest or a parasite.