Calm and Smooth: Epidural Supported Labor with Doula Care

Thank you, Morgan, for documenting your birth story in writing! This will be a cherished gift for your daughter as she grows older. Continue reading for the complete story as we welcome baby Mara Jill into the Mindful Birth family.

"On Tuesday, March 11th 2025, I woke up for my 39 week OB appointment, thinking that I’d likely have to go through with an induction for that upcoming Sunday. Before this, baby was breech and I thought I’d be going in for a c-section. I had so many ups and downs mentally preparing for delivery as the plan had changed so much. My optimism was falling short. I was disappointed because I really wanted to go into labor spontaneously, but it was not in line with the “high risk” pregnancy I had/recommendation, and I really just wanted to be done at this point. The last few weeks I had done everything to flip baby, and get her in the optimal position. All of the old wives tales out there, I did!

I went through the whole morning wondering why I was having such terrible heartburn and fatigue that I couldn’t relieve. I had some cramps the last few days but chalked it up to just being uncomfortable. I was hooked up to the NST machine at the appointment and started to see little peaks on the contractions monitor. The doctor said they were small contractions and if I was in labor, the peaks would be much higher, and I was not dilated at all.

When I got home from my appointment I took a nap and woke up feeling worse. A few weeks prior, I was gifted a boxed cake mix from one of my providers and was told to bake it whenever I thought I might have contractions and think I might be in labor, mostly to just take my mind off of it. A lot of women experience false labor, so this could help distract me. I decided to do this, but mostly in denial about potentially being in labor.

At around 6pm I decided to get ready for bed, just thinking I should rest. About 10pm I knew for sure that I was in labor, with the timing of the contractions happening closer together. I got about 10-15 minutes of rest in between the whole night up until about 4am when they started being about 5 minutes apart. I was waiting until about 4 minutes to go to the hospital, although at this point I just wanted to be there. I did everything I could to take my mind off the discomfort.

I can’t describe the emotions I had. We had been waiting a long time for our baby, going through a loss, and fertility testing. It was hard to trust my body my whole pregnancy, so you could imagine the feeling of going into spontaneous labor, although it was what I wanted.

We arrived at the hospital at shift change around 7am. My husband and I had to laugh after the fact as I was contracting and waiting for all the hospital staff to use the cross walks as we were trying to park.

When I got to triage, the nurse said I’d have to be at least 3-4 centimeters dilated to be admitted. I thought to myself “wtf… I better be if I’m in this much pain!”. After I was checked, I ended up being 4.5 cm. Shortly after, I had my bloody show and knew that I’d be admitted and meeting our baby soon. I remember saying to my husband that I was scared multiple times, but somehow managed to shift my mindset to just knowing I’d meet her soon.

The OB in triage came into the room and told us she was so upset that they did not have a room ready for us yet. At this point my contractions had intensified and I waited two hours for a room to be open. I was panicked thinking that I’d not be able to get any pain relief.

We finally got up to a room in the corner of the L&D floor. The atmosphere was pretty calm but I knew I needed an epidural soon. Everything went smoothly and after I was checked post epidural, I was 8cm. I could not believe I was progressing this fast. I had a few hours of rest but definitely could not sleep due to the anxiousness. Our doula, Tara, always knew how to help if anything got overstimulating and was always there to explain everything and help ease my mind.

We put on the food network channel and talked about different things to get my mind off labor.

Apparently, there were many things on the L&D floor going wrong this day but somehow in our room we never had a sense of this. We had a few nurses come in and compliment how calm it was in the room. I feel like I kept anticipating the worst to happen, but somehow I had to stay focused on the present and block my brain from panicking.

A few hours later, I was checked again and I fully dilated and ready to push. The midwife came in to get me situated to push. Everyone around me was so calm. We did a few practice pushes and I was feeling ready to go. I feel like your whole life as a woman, you have this fear of eventually giving birth one day and it being the craziest, most painful thing you’ve ever experienced just from what you see in the media or movies.

I continued to push, eyes locked in on my husband, who was watching the monitors with each contraction. I remember thinking I was pushing for so long that I was worried something was wrong. Everyone said that I was progressing with each push and baby was doing good. I remember getting so tired and nauseous at one point. I finally gave in and ended up getting sick, but it was the best relief. I was able to push further and finally felt her head push through. I remember through delivery everyone was talking quietly around me just about causal things. I participated at times too thinking like .. “how am I doing this right now?” I couldn’t believe the mental and physical strength I had.

Everyone was talking me through each step. The midwife turned to my husband and asked if he wanted to help deliver her. A few moments later he placed her on my chest and I heard her cry quickly but stop as she settled in. She was born on March 12th at 5:36pm. That moment will forever be cemented in my mind. Everything that I had been scared of was immediately relieved. All of the worry I had about blood, pain, and emergencies, went away and I was not even phased.

I kept thinking that there had to have been a guardian angel there with me that day. I couldn’t believe everything went so smooth and the way I had wanted.

I sit here writing this now with my baby laying on my chest and feeling so grateful for our story. Unknowingly baking her birthday cake was the sweetest surprise too!

Authored by Morgan, mother of one sweet baby girl

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Congratulations to Morgan and Mark!

Our doula best,

The Mindful Birth Doulas

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