My Name is Keera and I birthed a beautiful baby girl, we will call her D, in April of 2022. I am a doula, a
childbirth educator and a mom of 2. So I’m very knowledgeable about birth and I knew what I was
getting myself into when I decided to become a Surrogate. On the flip side, I was birthing a baby that
was not genetically mine, so that added an edge that I was unsure of.
My first birth was a beautiful, calm, empowering home birth to a wee, three week early baby and that
birth set the tone for the rest of my life and lit a fire I didn’t know I had. My second was a stubborn little
frank breech baby that ended in a voluntary cesarean. I went into my surrogate birth extremely positive
and determined to have my VBAC home birth. We prepared for an early delivery as that was all I had
know. Little did I know, I would go late. That was not in the plans, and even though I know birth is
unpredictable I had build up this magical birth and timeline in my head.
The Midwives had scheduled an impending induction date on a Saturday, well in advance as a
precaution. My due date came and went and every day we kept wondering when she would make her
appearance. After all, the baby decides when they’re ready to come. I stayed positive and listened to
positive birth affirmations. I ate all the dates and pineapple and drank all the raspberry leaf tea and
water possible in an attempt to prepare and encourage labor. If I was at home you would find me on my
birth ball, it was my favourite place to be the last few weeks of pregnancy. I took daily walks and got in
lots of naps to prepare. About a week before birth I started getting some regular mild contractions,
hoping they would progress, but every time they would come, they would stay mild and never go
anywhere. Talk about build up! There were many moments of “is this it?” but every time it was a
letdown. I had a few stretch and sweeps and was sitting at 3cm but a stretchy 4cm and 80% effaced for
a full week. I had officially entered what we called prodromal labor, my body was doing the work to get
ready. Little Miss. D just needed to decide, okay this is it! The thing with Prodromal labour is that often
when baby is ready, they will come fast because a lot of the early labor stage has already happened.
The day before my scheduled induction, I was starting to get a little panicked if I’m totally honest and a
part of me felt so awful for D’s parents just waiting for her. So many mixed emotions and as a last stitch
effort to get miss D out, we went the route of a Midwives Brew. Midwives brew is essentially just castor
oil in a smoothie made to taste less gross. I made the brew at 9am and by 930am it was gone. And than
we waited….
I was home alone(even though my birth support insisted she stay, I insisted she leave for a few hours, I
will never live that down) after laying on the couch for a few hours I decided to make some lunch, go for
a nice long walk, more like waddle, and take a nap. It was the most beautiful spring day, sunny, warm
with a breeze and birds chirping like crazy. I took about a 30 min slow walk around my small town and as
soon as I got home, got right into bed and was asleep instantly, its like my body knew it needed a nap.
After about 40 mins of deep sleep I was awoken by a sharp contraction, and in hindsight I knew this was
it, but I was still in denial. Not a moment later the midwives called and right after that my mom
happened to stop by to see how I was doing. Immediately the contractions started, back to back every
few mins getting more and more intense. Within 30 mins of that first contraction that woke me I was
calling my birth support and the midwives. The midwife called me back, I was on the birth ball and she
asked if my water had broken, as I stood up while on the phone still, my waters broke and unlike my first water breaking experience, it went everywhere! My poor mother was chasing after me with a towel I
had over the birth ball so my skin wouldn’t stick to avoid any on the carpet(too late). This was exactly
one hour from that first contraction that woke me up. I decided to get into the shower while my mother
started to fill the birth pool. I was calling and messaging people from in the shower to hurry and get
there. When I got out it was still just my mother and I and I realized my kids needed picked up from
school still, so I quickly tried to call my friend between contractions to ask her if she could pick them up.
Thankfully she did so I didn’t have to worry about them. As I was on the phone, baby D’s dads walked in
and I went out to tell my mom my kids were getting picked up and say a fast hi to the guys, I could sense
they were unsure of what to do, but just being there was all I needed from them. Moments later my
birth support walked in and immediately went to comforting me, soon after my midwife and than my
husband got there. The only position that was comfortable was in a fetal position on my side, so we got
through each contraction like that, my head in my birth supports lap. The second midwife got here a bit
after and got my I.V port in place. My I.V port was a precaution because I was having a VBAC home birth,
although it was not needed in the end. They got the dad in place who was taking the baby skin to skin
right away, beside me, his hesitation was evident. And his poor hand took the brunt of my contractions,
a good squeeze toy for me. Both dads looked a little in shock, a little white in the face and unsure of
how to approach me being in labour, in the sweetest way. I can not stress enough how amazing they
were in labor, I can not imagine how many emotions they had running through them in that short few
hours of labor. They were kind, understanding and so supportive. We soon realized that D had her little
hand up so we shifted me down to the edge of the bed and had to pull her little arm out(this would have
slowed her down in the birth canal) and before we knew it she was born in all her squishy goodness. She
was immediately handed to her dad and the whole room was in shock and awe. This beautiful girl was
finally here, years they had been dreaming for that moment and they were finally living it. As I did all my
oh so fun afterbirth the dads soaked up their new baby girl and than we were reunited again, this time
with her earth side. I soaked in every small detail and all the goodness that is a newborn baby. Absolute
bliss that moment was for us all. From first contraction that woke me to birth was exactly 2 hours and 47
mins, the fastest baby I’ve birthed….yet.
They all tell you when you are having your own children that that moment you meet them the first time
is the best, but after 9 months of carrying, growing and loving on baby D and finally seeing her with her
dads was life altering in ways I can not express. That feeling of pride every time I see a picture of her is
unmatched. Her birth is a triumph I will celebrate forever.