Couple deliver their baby at home
A MALVERN couple, who went with their instinct, managed to deliver their healthy baby girl in their home on Friday night without the help of any medical professionals.
When paramedics arrived, they found baby Alovah, who weighed 2.95kg, lying blissfully on her mother Mavlene Pandaram’s chest.
It was her father Sumen, 35, a technician, who delivered her and cleared her airways.
And while this is a scene straight out of a movie, for Mavlene, a mother of three, it was the most natural thing in the world.
“We just did what our instinct told us to do and God has his hand over us,” said Mavlene, who works as a buyer for a chemical company.
She said she had visited her gynaecologist on February 24, who advised her that her labour would be long.
“I was due to give birth on March 1 but did not. On Friday (March 3) I had spent the morning sleeping and went to fetch my daughter from school at around noon.
“That evening we were due to have supper at my in-laws’ home in Isipingo. We stopped over at my mother’s home (also in Isipingo) to fetch my son, when I felt a hot rush of water. My water broke.
“I decided to have something to eat because I hadn’t eaten that day and I expected a long labour.”
Mavlene said after supper she and her husband went back to their home.
“I recall travelling on the M7 and telling my husband not to rush as the contractions were very far apart.”
The couple arrived home and Mavlene contacted a doula.
“The doula is a midwife hired privately, who helps you labour in the comfort of your home without an epidural. In hospital they keep you on a bed. At home the doula helps massage you, and then when you are about to deliver, advises you to get to hospital.”
Mavlene said she stepped into the shower and let the hot water run on her back as instructed by the doula.
“My husband and I were timing the contractions. They were three minutes apart and there was no intense pain.”
She said when she stepped out of the shower and began dressing for hospital, she felt another gush of water.
“I told Sumen that there was no time (to go to the hospital) and the baby was coming. I told him to get cushions and towels and call the paramedics. I knelt on all fours of the bedroom floor and the next instant the baby’s head emerged.
“I told my husband to grab her and I gave another push and she was born. I told Sumen to clear her airways by pushing his hand into her mouth, and put her on my chest.
“She seemed happy and content and I gave her breast milk.”
By this time the paramedics and the doula had arrived.
“The doula helped me deliver the placenta and then I got up and got ready to go to the hospital while my husband kept the baby warm on his chest.
“The paramedics could not believe I had given birth. I still had make-up on,” said Mavlene, laughing.
Mother and baby were taken to the hospital.
“It was the most natural thing in the world, and I had no pain or any medical procedures.”