The moment of giving birth is literally the dawn of a new life. Not just of your baby, but of yourself. 

My husband held my body, I hung onto a rope my father tied to support me, my mother meditated to mantras in the background, and my birth team surrounded all of us with love and care. 

My little one was positioned in a way which gave rise to a constant state of barely relenting contractions. If an epidural was possible, I would have requested one. At the time, however, I felt as though I was in too much pain to make it out of my room, let alone into a car and to the hospital. I've been asked so many times what made it possible for me to birth at home, without medication, whilst in so much pain. 

My response? 

I was in a place and surrounded by a community which allowed me to be unapologetically all of my true selves all at once.