Samantha Eklund

3/17/2025

Lauren was truly a gift during my labor. This was birth number 3 for me but I had significant trauma with my first two. With this birth I had decided that I wanted to do it unmedicated with hypnobirthing. I had great nurses that got me pretty far and Lauren was checking in regularly and giving me things to try to help me progress. Even though my contractions were still far apart I could tell things were escalating so I asked her to come even though it was earlier than we discussed. I'm so glad that I did. I was a high risk pregnancy and when my contractions started happening frequently my blood pressure was too high. It was then that we decided I needed an epidural to keep me safe. I was devastated by this but Lauren was so good about making sure that I was ok proceeding. Once the epidural was placed she still helped me with positioning and continued to read affirmations to me as well as make my hospital room such a welcoming place. Maybe an hour later it was time to push. My sweet baby girl was born after 15 minutes of pushing. Lauren was absolutely great to have beforehand but during labor she was such a great cheerleader. She stayed with us until we moved to the recovery suite and then continued to check in on me. The love she has for her clients is amazing and is felt the second that she is in the room. Her mom is also a doula and was a great support too. Because of how quickly my labor progressed she wasn't able to be there in person but she was in constant communication with my husband. Having them both check in on us after we got home was great. They brought the sweetest basket full of treats to help me with lactation and some goodies that my toddler absolutely loved. My husband and I have plans to continue to grow our family and I have absolutely no doubt that we would hire Lauren and her mom to be our doulas again. I refer to them as my birth angels whenever I tell my friends about my experience and I can't recommend them enough.