Meet Sierra

On February 24, 2025 at 1:25pm we welcomed our daughter, Sierra Kaur Dulay, into this world. 

Let me tell you her arrival story. It’s a little long, but worth it.

Third Time's a Charm

As you may know from Sunny’s last post, Sierra was breech until week 38. At 38 weeks and 1 day, which was also Valentine’s day, we arrived at the hospital, hopeful that she would flip. We were also told to be prepared for a little “Valentina” to arrive. With a little help from an amazing team of providers, she turned. That gave us a little more time and the possibility of a natural birth.

Then, at week 39, I was sent to the hospital from my routine office visit for hypertension. My normally low blood pressure was notably high. Once again, we packed our bags and went to the hospital, ready for the arrival of our little one. But after a day of reclining, maybe for the first time during my entire pregnancy, of course my blood pressure returned to normal. So again we left the hospital with no baby. 

The next day we were going to NJ to see Chelsea. I considered canceling, but the hospital said it was fine. So off we went to Jersey with a good coffee and Phoebe in hand to see my bestie for some Indian food! Our group text thread with Chelsea and Brie regularly includes pictures of Indian food and we had been planning for months to meet them at their favorite Indian restaurant! I guess we all conveniently forgot that Indian food is a well known labor starter.

On the way home, after a stop at IKEA to gather the last few things for the nursery, of course, I noticed that I didn’t feel great. We distracted ourselves the rest of the way home by singing all the songs we agreed upon: Train from our SF days, the Killers from all our desert road trips, and sappy 80’s rock ballads that have good electric guitar solos for Sunny. If the Indian food didn’t do it, our lousy singing surely did the trick. Once home, I took my blood pressure and called the doctor. They said it was time. So we packed up the car for a third time. We headed to the hospital knowing that after this our life would never be the same.

Labor in Luxury

In my mind I had idyllic movie-like images of labor and birth. I did not anticipate being induced for preeclampsia. But there I was in a hospital gown waiting for her arrival to begin. Things were not going quite as planned, but they ended up being exactly what I needed. Had I been at home during the early labor I would not have rested at all. Here there was no choice. I went from resting in the bed to lounging on the couch. Eventually, I had Sunny go get me a yoga mat so I could do yoga on the floor. After a cycle of lounging and relaxing I would take a couple of laps around the hospital floor, come back and start it all over again. After a full spa like day of lounging, relaxing, yoga, and walking I had dilated to 6 cm. I felt great and decided to get some sleep.

At midnight, everything changed. I awoke with intense back pain. Active labor had begun. I was hopeful I’d be able to have an unmedicated birth. After all I was already 6 cm dilated and had no pain. This is what Sunny and I had practiced. We even signed up for a 9 week Mindful Birthing class that met for 3 hours every weekend in preparation for this. We started with walking, then squatting, then got into the luxurious spa tub. Our labor and delivery room had the most beautiful tub I have ever seen, and I was going to use it! The tub was magical. It even had a variety of wands to spray on my back with each contraction. But I was experiencing “back labor.” Each contraction brought about severe pain in my low back, sacrum, SI joints, and hips. As time went on I was getting less and less relief between contractions. After 3 hours of hard labor, I looked at Sunny and said, “I need to know where I am at. If this keeps going, I won’t be present for the delivery.” 

Seven centimeters. 

So much effort, and so little change. My heart sank. I didn’t know how to make the decision. So, Sunny made it for me. In came the anesthesiologist, a stern Eastern European woman who reminded me of Mimi.  And 30 minutes later, I was pain free and asleep.

Our Support System

I woke up the next morning with our team assembled. Mama Aisha was rubbing my back. She sent Sunny to nap, and Jess was driving up after teaching her morning yoga class in Brooklyn. 

My favorite OBGYN, the one who spun Sierra into position, entered to give us an update. The good news was that sleep did much of the work for me because my body was able to relax during sleep. However the bad news was the baby had not yet descended into the pelvis. He wouldn’t be delivering Sierra, but he broke my water and left us in the hands of the next team. I drifted in and out of sleep until around noon. Then they said it was time to push.

Suddenly, I felt terrified. After the intensity of pain the night before I doubted myself. I that moment I felt helpless and weak. I needed help. To my left was Aisha, holding my hand. I heard Sunny on the phone with Jess, who had just arrived in the parking lot, saying “Perfect timing, She is about to start pushing.” I was instantly grateful I am for the community we have here in NY. We had decided not to hire a doula and have our friends Aisha, a labor and delivery nurse, and Jess, a prenatal  yoga instructor and massage therapist, be our support system in this transformational time. We were all ready to go.

Her Arrival

Even with the epidural I could feel the swell of contractions guiding our daughter into the world. Before pushing began the midwife made sure I could find the muscles to push, since I had never used them before. I had Sunny and Aisha by my side. Sunny for the emotional support, Aisha for the physical support. A remember specifically telling Aisha not to let Sunny hold my legs. (Sorry, Honey.) We all got into position.

Contraction 1. We rode the wave. Warm-up complete. 

Contraction 2. I was feeling strong. No problem. 

Contraction 3. “It’s the head!” they said. “You’re close.” 

“What?” I thought. “We just started.” Jess had not even gotten upstairs from the parking lot yet. But there was no time to process. Because the fourth contraction was already coming. 

She was here! 

At 1:25 PM after just 4 contractions and 5 minutes of pushing she was born. 

“Meet your daughter.” someone said as they brought her to my chest. The life I had carried inside me for the last 9 months was finally here. I was ready to meet her…

To be continued…