Lauren’s Birth Story

Lauren (co-creator of Mental Push Plan) and her son, McCall.

My pregnancy was, thankfully, uneventful. There was reflux, lots of peeing and cankles, but that all comes with the big belly territory. I was able to exercise throughout, which felt awesome to be able to do. I felt so strong and in awe of the incredible work that my body was doing. Like, for instance, did you know that a pregnant person’s heart rate capacity outperforms that of elite-level endurance athletes? Umm… that’s amazing. Birthing bodies rule!

The most exciting thing about my pregnancy was that I was going through it in Barcelona, Spain, thousands of miles away from friends and family. But, the allure of having a baby with even a chance at EU citizenship was too good to pass up! And luckily, navigating the healthcare system and language barrier wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, though finding the office for our first appointment had me looking like a deer in the headlights. Our doctor, who we affectionately referred to as Paco, was an older, no nonsense Catalonian who had you in and out of appointments in 15 mins, but was always somehow still an hour behind schedule. 

In preparing for my birth, I read several books, talked to all my friends with kids, asked my mom about her births and watched maybe a few too many birth stories on YouTube. Preference A was an unmedicated vaginal birth. Both my brother and I were straightforward, quick deliveries and I was totally banking on genetics to see me through. But, I’m also a realist so I had preferences B, C, D and E ready for any necessary game day changes. My background in sport psychology was a real asset in preparing my mind. In fact, because I’m one of those weird people, I was looking forward to taking on the challenge of giving birth. I haven’t gone in for many endurance contests, having played mostly team sports growing up. So, this was really going to be a chance for me to take charge of my mental state in what is arguably the most intense human experience possible.

For me, it was all about the combination of a strong body and a strong mind. I focused on trying to keep as much muscle as I could, staying limber and working on hip flexor and pelvic floor strength. At the same time, I worked hard on mindful breathing, pain coping strategies like counting and becoming well acquainted with my mantra - You were made for this. Having a mentally strong birth was goal number one, no matter what the ultimate delivery method was.  

Now, while my pregnancy was uneventful, the universe must have just been saving all the excitement for delivery day. We were living in the center of Barcelona (Diagonal and Passeig de Gracia) and if you followed the news around that time (2017-2019) there was unrest over Catalonia’s vote to secede from Spain. The day I went into labor, the Spanish government was due to announce the sentences for several Catalonian officials for their roles. The sentences handed down did not go over well in Barcelona. More on that later. 

In our little “about to have a baby” bubble, we weren’t paying too much attention to much else. Friday was when things started to get going. I lost the first part of my mucus plug, which I definitely took pictures of. It’s… well, it’s something. I then proceeded to spend most of Saturday soberly hanging out at an Octoberfest trying not to drool over other people’s giant beers. On Sunday, I lost the rest of my mucus plug (more pictures) and began to feel the beginnings of early labor. I was having mild, but regular cramping sensations all day. They were happening every 7 to 12 minutes or so. My husband, Mitch, and I spent most of the day and into the evening walking around. Barcelona has so many incredible things to look at, so there were lots of beautiful distractions. My favorite being Sagrada Familia. Que bonita! Around 4 am Monday morning, my early labor contractions woke me up from their increased intensity. After walking for another hour, we decided to head to the hospital just to see where things were at. Ha. We were at 1 whole cm. When the nurse heard our plan was for an unmedicated birth, she recommended we go home and come back later. What or when “later” was, we weren’t really told.  

We arrived back at our apartment around 9 am and were able to sleep until around noon. During this time, things were really starting to heat up around Barcelona over the Spanish government’s sentences. We knew this because from our apartment we could hear the chants of protestors and helicopters circling overhead. Mitch would take frequent trips out onto the streets to see what was happening. His reports weren’t encouraging.

In the meanwhile, I was using lots of movement, cat-cow and leaning over our stability ball. As my labor continued, so did the unrest outside. And where was our hospital? On the other side of the protests that had shut down two of biggests streets through the city. We were debating when to leave because we were unsure how long it would take to get to the hospital. Finally, I experienced a moment of feeling very open. I could feel my pelvis being stretched and suddenly yelled, “We gotta go!” What followed was, in retrospect, quite comical. We walked 4 blocks through standstill traffic, stopping every 2 mins for contractions. Mitch then left me leaning against the side of a building to try to find a taxi. 

Somehow through all this, I didn’t feel stressed (I feel more stressed thinking back on it). My breath was my grounding force. The long audible “hhhhhh” exhales felt like the consistent releases I needed. Ultimately, getting to the hospital at 5:30 pm took 30-45 mins, which should have taken no more than 10. At this point, I was deep in labor-land. I had a vague comprehension of what was happening around me, but all my energy was turned inward, Which is probably why Mitch had to squeeze my hand and say, “Did you hear what she just said?” after the nurse checked my dilation. “She said you’re 9 cm!!” Nothing like showing up after the trailers before the actual show starts, eh? We were hustled into a birthing suite. For better or worse, only one of our nurses spoke English. She told us, “Okay, your water hasn’t broken yet, so call us when it does” and left the room. This left Mitch and I alone in our room as I came to full dilation and into transition. Can you even believe that? 

I was standing naked, leaning over the bed with pee pads underneath me with Mitch attempting to give me counter pressure (not nearly hard enough), when he said behind me, “I’m actually pretty excited to see what it looks like when your water breaks!” Yep, he said that. As the intensity ramped up my breath remained important, but it wasn’t enough. I began to use counting and my mantra as points of focus. My mantra, “You were made for this”, was something Mitch was supposed to be saying to me, but either he kept forgetting it or some instinctive wisdom caused him to keep asking me, “What’s your mantra?” So instead I would ground out, “I was MADE for this.”

After my water broke (it really wasn’t that exciting), the nurse came in to check me again. She thought I still had a little ways to go to bring the baby fully down into the birth canal. I was able to use a birthing ball while on my knees to help with this. While in this position, I began to experience the uncontrollable urge to push. I found this to be the most innate, biological, deep-seated thing I’ve ever felt. My body was taking over and performing a hard-wired process that is built-in to my genetic code, but not something I’ve ever done before. How truly incredible that is. 

For the big finale, I moved onto the bed and thankfully had a birthing bar to use for leverage. Paco made one brief appearance and said he’d be back. I was pushing, yelling, and then pushing some more, when the nurse looked at me and said, “I’m here. We can do this now.” And so we did. I got one brief, mirror’s-eye-view of baby’s head crowning and in about 15 minutes of pushing he was out! The feeling of pushing my baby into the world is the most deeply empowering thing I have ever experienced. McCall Samson arrived into the world at 7:10 pm, October 14, 2021 with a full head of hair and gorgeous eyes. 

We were blessed with a great amount of skin-on-skin time. I still remember his little fist reaching up and grasping the necklace I was wearing. That small little gesture sticks in my mind because I was so amazed he already had such dexterity. At this point, Paco came strolling back in saying, “Ah. I knew you could do it.” Classic Paco - late. He then delivered the placenta, which we got to feel and investigate. Another incredible birthing body power, growing an entirely new organ that feeds new life!  

Looking back on McCall’s birth, all of the chaos, language barriers and hands off hospital staff could have been real challenges. Seriously. They left us in there alone for like 30 minutes as we went into transition! But the deep trust I felt in my body and my mental focus overrode everything else. In fact, it was perfect.

There were no other distractions, no one was messing with me and I could just do what my body needed to do. I feel so completely blessed that things work out for my birth preference A. That is not the experience for many women, which is why I made sure I was ready for B, C or D. This flexible and agile mindset is something I teach to athletes. It isn’t necessarily the best athletes that win, it’s the ones that can stay focused and perform at their best no matter the conditions. And, in the end, feeling mentally prepared helps with relaxation and flow, something I absolutely felt when giving birth. 

The feeling that continues to remain most present for me is the overwhelming feeling of having such an intimate personal experience that, at the same time, is so completely universal. It leaves me with a feeling of spiritual connection to all the birthing bodies who have come before me, those that are around me now and those yet to come. There is such primal power in bringing life into the world and I cherish my communion with them because, like them, I truly was made for this.