Embracing Natural Unmedicated Hospital Birth with the Guidance of a Doula

Christine Ghali
18 hours ago
4 min read

"I’m the type of person that likes to feel prepared before going into a new situation. Pregnancy and giving birth wasn’t something I ever thought I wanted to do, but when I met the love of my life, my feelings changed. So when I found out I was pregnant I immediately started researching everything possible about giving birth. I had so many of my friends and family who had horror stories when it came to hospital births but instead of letting that scare me, I used it as motivation to make sure I was going to be in (somewhat) control of my labor.

My first decision was that I wanted to do my best to have an unmedicated hospital birth. One of the most important parts of my research for an unmedicated birth was that the term “doula” kept popping up. That is what led me to reach out to Christine who matched me up with Kelly.

When you tell people you want to have an unmedicated birth.. you get a lot of shocked reactions. I was told you don’t earn a medal for going unmedicated so why go through the pain? My poor husband also thought I had lost my mind when I told him what I wanted. I don’t blame him for being skeptical at first- he’s my protector and he was afraid to see me in pain. Regardless, I was determined to give birth unmedicated and after spending time with Kelly I felt even more confident that I could do it.

At 5am on September 1st I was laying in bed and feeling quite uncomfortable. I went to roll over and that’s when I heard and felt a gentle “pop” in my stomach. Honestly I thought my hip or back had popped which was something that had been happening normally. I was only 35 + 3 so I was in denial that I could be going in to labor just yet. I decided to get up and get some water and when I stood up, that’s when I realized the sound I heard was definitely my water breaking.

I tried to stay calm so I woke my husband up and let him know what was going on. To say the least, we were not prepared to go to the hospital. I didn’t have a bag packed and I definitely didn’t have the car seat installed. I really thought I had more time but baby boy was on his own schedule and he was coming now whether I was ready or not.

So I quickly packed a bag and by about 6:30am after speaking to the OB on call we decided to head to the hospital. I called Kelly on the way to the hospital to let her know what was going on. She offered me words of encouragement as I was starting to feel the reality of what was happening and it was causing me to be very nervous and scared. She told me what to do in the meantime at the hospital but that she would meet me there asap.

By the time we made it to the hospital I could feel my contractions were starting become a little uncomfortable. Since my water had already broken they took me straight to a room where they checked me and I was 3cm dilated. Not long after that Kelly arrived just in time. My contractions were definitely becoming more intense and getting harder to talk through.

As soon as Kelly arrived she immediately had me doing stretches, sitting on the toilet and using the peanut ball and doing hip squeezes. We were determined to progress my labor naturally. And we did just that.

Sometime around 4pm I was 10cm and my body was beginning to push on its own and it was time to meet my baby. My husband and Kelly were my biggest cheerleaders and helped me mentally push through the moment when I was afraid I couldn’t do it. I pushed for about 20-30 minutes and baby Walker was here!

I felt all the feelings once my baby was in my arms and, to be honest, I forgot about any pain I had in that moment. It made it all worth it in the end. My labor went better than I could have expected and I was so happy and grateful for my experience.

Side note- if you are an expecting mama and you’re on the fence about having doula support, please just do it. No matter what your birth plan is- just hire the doula. Not only did I have someone there that advocated and supported me, I feel like even though Kelly started as a stranger, by her being there through the biggest moment of my life I gained a sister."

Authored by first time mom, Katie

Please join us in congratulating Katie and Bronson as they welcome their son Walker into the world

Kelly + The Mindful Birth Doulas