For the Mothers I Haven’t Met Yet

The artwork is by Marta with a shop name called “NightingaleCraftery” on Etsy. All rights reserved to the artist.

I did not know her name, but I prayed for her and her baby before we met.

I have been praying for my future clients.

I do not mean in a vague or casual passing. I mean, still, quiet, intentional prayer. I have been praying for the women I have not met yet, women carrying life in a world that often forgets what a miracle that truly is. I have asked God to let the right families find me. I have been praying for mothers who want support and presence and seek evidence-based information and peace. Mothers who are not just looking for someone to do the work, but someone to walk alongside them through their own.

This past Friday, I received a message that brought joy and tears of hope.

A Christian woman with a Catholic family reached out to me. She was looking for a faith-based doula in Washington who accepts Washington Apple Health (Medicaid doula). She did not know it, but I had been praying for her. I did not pray for her face, because I did not know it. I prayed for her spirit, desire, boldness, longing, and trust in God and life. She is the exact woman I have been waiting to serve.

She is due in July, and next week we will meet. I am so excited to walk beside her through these final months of pregnancy and into the fourth trimester. To be clear, I am not guiding her into motherhood. She already is a mother, as children are begotten, not made, and she became a mother the moment she conceived her baby. That sacred truth is what grounds my work as a Catholic birth doula.

By grace, we were threaded together - from DoulaMatch to Instagram to a simple text. She said she was looking for someone like me, a doula of faith. I realized at that moment, she was the one I had been asking God to send me.

I love all my clients, truly. There is something about waiting in prayer, holding hope gently and persistently, and then receiving a message that feels like the answer to all of it. Her message stirred my spirit in a way that reminded me birthwork is sacred. This moment was deeper than gratitude. It was a prayer returned with a clear and loving yes. I followed this with another prayer, one of praise and thanks.

"Thank You, God, for sending her. Thank You for encouraging me. Thank You for affirming that this is my calling."

What is unique about this situation is that she is using her Medicaid benefits to receive Christian birth support - something not often spoken about but deeply needed in our state.

She is brave, faithful, and deserving of being surrounded by prayerful, compassionate support.

I am honored that she found me, and I am praying that more women like her will continue to find me, too.

To the mothers I have not met yet, I am already praying for you, your baby, your rest, for your strength, and for the grace that carries you forward.

You are not alone.

You were loved before I knew your name - just as you were held in the heart of God, knit together in the secret place, fearfully and wonderfully made.