Ashwini and Madhusudan
July 16, 2025
"We had the privilege of being attended by all the midwives and nurses at Aastrika and they took care of us with a lot of patience and kindness."
Aastrika is another word for patience for us. We were always skeptical of how a c-section is pushed by doctors without a valid reason, which made us change our OB-GYN and Aastrika was the right decision. Due to certain complications during the 36th week, Dr. Anu started the process of natural induction. There was no progress, so I was asked to get admitted during the 39th week for a medical induction. There was little to no progress for 2 days with oral misoprostol and oxytocin through IV. We had the privilege of being attended by all the midwives and nurses at Aastrika and they took care of us with a lot of patience and kindness. They were extremely gentle even though I was being difficult at times. Mine was the second longest labour at Aastrika, apparently.
The second day was the hardest where we had lost the strength to stick to our decision for a vaginal delivery. Dr. Jikmik and Dr. Janhavi’s (all the way from Europe) pep talks kept us going. Dr. Jikmik gave us the time and option to think about next steps when induction was not working. During this entire time, not even once did we feel our baby was in danger, especially because they were continuously monitoring her heartbeat. We kept going and with the help of pethidine, an epidural and 3 failed attempts of vacuum, our baby was born naturally. 🙂 I got the strength to push her when the doctor mentioned we might have to go for an emergency c-section! 🙂 She had passed meconium, had a loose nuchal cord around her neck, and didn’t cry immediately after coming out, but she was perfectly fine and we could do the golden hour with her.
Thanks to the entire team in the delivery room for handling the entire situation with a lot of discretion. This wouldn’t have been possible at any other hospital. We would have definitely had a premature baby in our hands if it was anywhere else. Special thanks to Salomi Chechi, Tintu Chechi, Anju Chechi and Kavita sister for helping us through the
entire labour.
We feel Dr. Janhavi and Aastrika are doing a service to women by empowering them to have a say in the birthing process. My husband says he feels very lucky to have had the chance to be a part of the entire labour and birth, he will never forget witnessing the birth of our baby. He will always cherish the first skin-to-skin with our daughter. Also the sensory birthing suite played a big part in keeping us calm, we played Shah Rrukh’s songs and also watched a movie amidst contractions!!
We will always be grateful to Aastrika for this memorable experience.
