The Birth of Jarrah Jules Aitken, Ceasarean Lotus Birth 2nd July 2004 

Unfortunately our planned home birth had to transfer to hospital. We left home with our support team which included our two midwives, home birth doctor and a friend. On arrival at The Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne we were introduced to our assigned midwife and doctor and all the necessary steps were taken to settle us in. 

I continued to labour for as long as I could at hospital until complications arose and I was advised to have an emergency Caesarean section. My partner Josh and I had always planned a Lotus birth regardless of the outcome. After reading Lotus Birth by Shivam Rachana and spending many years with women and their children who had Lotus Births we felt this was a great gift to give to our child.

When we received the news about having to have a caesarean we expressed our wish to have a Lotus birth - we were initially met with a refusal given that this process had not occurred at this hospital before in this situation. We continued to negotiate with the doctor on duty and shared our deep wish for this to happen. 

After about 45 minutes of negotiations and talking with the doctor, we were told that we would need to seek permission from his supervisor. Josh went with the doctor and spoke with the supervisor and again expressed our desire and why we wanted this for our child. Fortunately she was open to the idea of trialing it as long as the doctor was comfortable in doing so. The doctor assured us that he would do his best, however if any complications arose during the operation he would cut the cord. He also felt it was necessary to clamp the cord for a short time to be able to take a sample of cord blood - I am unsure to this day as to why this happened, however this was the compromise that we arrived at in order to have a Lotus Birth. We felt that we had achieved as much as we were able.

The Caesarean section was performed and our son, Jarrah was born at 7.50 am on Friday 2nd July. He was immediately taken over to a table to have meconium suctioned from his lungs - Josh was with him at all times -  the placenta was still attached. 

8.00am saw a shift change in staff and a new nurse came in who tried to cut the cord saying it was hospital procedure!! Fortunately Josh was with Jarrah and intervened letting her know of our arrangement with the doctor.

Jarrah was having difficulty breathing, so his father requested that the clamps be removed to allow the blood to flow freely from his placenta back into his body. The Paediatrician refused to do this and we again asked to seek higher authority. He left and then came back and removed the clamps. Once this was done Jarrah's breath, colour and strength picked up immediately - this amazed the paediatrician! 

Jarrah was brought over to me and laid on my chest. He was still having difficulties with his breathing and at this point I touched him and talked him into his body. I assured him that he was safe and that all was ok. He let out a huge sigh and settled more fully into his body and then he nuzzled into my breasts and had a small feed. 

The paediatrician was still concerned about him and wanted to take him to special care for observation. Josh went with him, and when they got to the intensive care nursery door the paediatrician could not believe the rapid progress that he saw in the baby's breathing .He then decided that it was not necessary for him to be there and brought him back to be with me in recovery.

Once I was settled into the ward there were many visits from various midwives at the hospital. They came to see the baby with his placenta still attached - they were thrilled that we had chosen this process and were very excited that it happened in the hospital system. They were hopeful that this would be the beginning of more Lotus births in hospital. 

Later that evening when I was feeding Jarrah, the doctor and the anaesthetist came to visit me. They acknowledged the process that had taken place and let me know that everyone involved had learned something valuable from this experience. 

We returned home the next day - much to the hospitals disapproval as I had undergone major abdominal surgery. However I felt confident knowing that I was well enough and that I would be held and loved by the strong community of friends around us. 

We cared for Jarrah's placenta by salting it daily and keeping it wrapped in a placenta bag that was given to me by a dear friend. 

On the third day as I was changing Jarrah's nappy he reached up and grabbed his cord. It snapped in half with the other half still being attached to his belly button - when this happened I witnessed the most amazing thing. As he was still holding onto his cord, I watched a vortex of energy and light around him, which then travelled into his body. It was as though his energetic body became fully alive and entered into him for the first time. He lay very still and became very very present as he held my gaze for along time and I felt as though we had an exchange where he thanked me for this experience. The next day the remainder of his cord naturally came away from his belly button.

We have since planted it in our garden under a eucalyptus tree.