Trust And Decision

“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair,” but it took me just 60+ minutes to trust Birth Village. My wife has been reading birth stories since 2015, when we visited Birth Village, she was in paradise. Her confidence and my “What-if assessment” convinced me to trust Birth Village.

Priyanka Idiculla, co-founder and director of Birth Village is an international certified midwife. The Birth Center had nearly 500 natural births in nearly decade of its existence. We got an appointment of 60-90min for consultation. In normal medical institutes, situation will be contrast, maternity hospitals will be founded with the popular Doctor’s (OBG) name, but in reality only junior doctors or assistants will conduct the consultation and labor.

I asked my list of questions and from the answers provided by her, I did my assessment.

What-if Assessment

·    What if she develops any complications during pregnancy?

o Answer: Enrolling to Birth Village is the start of the journey, Mother and birth partner (father) shall follow all the diet and workout routine along with sufficient sleep and peace of mind. Birth Village conducts regular consultations (in person and online) and available for call 24/7. We will monitor health and check the blood/scan reports to suggest any corrections in diet or supplements to be taken. If in case pregnant women develops any complications, it will be directly be referred to normal Medical Institutes for a regular process.

o Assessment: It is better to follow the healthy regime during pregnancy and in case if we fail to deliver naturally, at least we had followed healthy lifestyle which adds on for further postpartum care.

·    What if we reach Birth Village and you will notice high medical intervention required like C-section?

o Answer: Birth Village staff are trained for any kind of birth related medical intervention, we will be closely monitoring the mother and baby for healthiness if we feel it is not possible to deliver naturally, we will help to shift to emergency labor, in any of the nearest hospitals. Also, it is not as you see in a movie, water broke and you need to rush the pregnant lady in some minutes, we will have sufficient time to travel to nearest hospital with our own vehicle or in your vehicle.

o Assessment: Firstly, During the period of 2018 -2019 natural birth rate in the Birth Village was 97.3%, that is approximately 3 patients may need to go to hospital from Birth Village every year considering 120 deliveries in a year. It did not seem like a big risk. Secondly, births are happening at normal nursing homes at houses, at trains, on roads etc… this place is safer than any other places to give birth.

·    What if we are not following healthy regime

o Answer: This is a mutual decision to start this journey, however only you can decide and show commitment to have natural birth, we will always be holding your hands in the journey and showing you the right path. You need to choose.

o Assessment: Choice, Courage and Commitment have to be shown by us, finally the fruit at the end of the journey will be healthy mother and baby.

I asked some more very basic questions, for which she answered without any hesitation. Her humility and honesty made me trust and decide to enroll for Birth Village. (We enrolled after 10 days of returning from Kochi)

In management lesson they teach, to pitch any good idea or product you need to concentrate on two main topics empathy and competency and in the same order. She empathized with our situation and informed all the options and later explained about the competency of the people and Birth Village. In simple words she said “Birth Village has all the international training and knowledge in birthing and also equipped with medical systems to intervene if necessary except to perform C-section”

At the end, we were convinced, mainly I was convinced. Normally, women will have many dreams, due to family’s fear or unwillingness they adjust with the least liked option. But this was not time for any adjustment, it was time for family to learn and to provide needed care & honor the woman’s choice.