"After three contractions, my son was born!" A Mother Discusses Childbirth in the Parking Lot of Her

Anna Carolina da Costa Avelheda Bandeira, age 40, described in an interview the moment her son Arthur was born in the parking lot of her apartment building. Photographer Graziele Pereira's photographs of the exact moment the baby was born, taken ten months after the event, attracted worldwide attention.

The mother of the jovial and playful Arthur reported that she became pregnant at the age of 29 and that the entire pregnancy was very peaceful, with only the classic pregnancy symptoms of nausea in the first trimester, leg swelling, and fatigue, especially in the final months.

"I worked until 39 weeks gestation. It was February 14th. On Monday, my husband and I commemorated our wedding anniversary, so we went out to lunch. We walked to the downtown Rio subway, then walked the Botafogo subway to where the car was parked near the company, a twenty-minute walk, before returning home.

The following morning, Anna awoke with ramps. She had already taken medical leave, with a certification from the physician who accompanied her, because she was too exhausted to continue working. The intention for that day was to finish organizing her small room and the items she and her partner would bring to the hospital.

Anna endured a painful night, waking up every ten minutes as the pain worsened throughout the night. The nurse, Amanda Bento, then requested permission to perform a touch exam. "When we entered my room, I was already seven centimeters dilated; we could proceed to the hospital." During the wait, I took a hot shower. The ten to fifteen minutes I spent inside helped to alleviate my pain, but I was forced to leave because the ater broke."

Anna yelled to the nurse, "It won't work, he's being born!" when they were all standing at the car's side with the door already open. She didn’t believe it, but she came to examine it and, in fact, he was already crowing.

“I shouted to my husband, who was in the car, waiting for us to get in: “Love, come here, run!” My greatest regret was that he would miss the birth of our son. He stayed behind me, supporting me while I pushed and Amanda supported the baby. Roberta was also nearby, but she had moved to the side to allow my husband to remain with me and us. "Our son was born after three pushes," she recalls.

Anna felt a mixture of emotions in those moments: apprehension because they were far from the hospital and lacked a home birth team to assist the mother and baby in the event of any complications.

"My husband and I were present, along with our photographer, doula, and nurse. Amanda, who is a midwife, reassured us that both I and the baby were healthy. I felt immense joy and gratitude for having been able to bring our son into the world at the right time. Then came relief, as the pain and distractions ceased with his birth."

“He was born ruddy, all wrinkled and full of the ᴠᴇʀɴɪx, crying and showing what he came for. On the way to the hospital, he was already breastfeeding. I was fine too, thank God,” says the mother.

Anna says she never even considered the possibility that this would occur to her, especially since she and Roberta both believed it was too risky. Anna leaves a message for women who fear the pain of childbirth: "First and foremost, study and educate yourself. Childbirth is "natural," but we must be aware of its physiognomy. Then trust yourself and have faith in your abilities. Like our doula Roberta Reis, she always told me, "Childbirth begins in the mind." There, we must develop the notion that we have achieved success.