Cover Photo: A baby's feet cradled in the palm of a person wearing nail polish
Photograph by Alex Pasarelu/Unsplash

The Gift of a Guilt-Free Epidural

This was overwhelmingly the tone epidural advice was given to me with—‘Sure, it works, but do you really need it?’

What did it feel like? Stabbing or dull? How did YOU feel? Panicked, or despairing?

It won’t last a week It doesn’t feel like stabbing, it’s more like intense pressureneed

You can’t walk once it’s inYou’ll be bedboundSo many wires!

could Sure, it works, but do you really need it?

All bodies are different

Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from USF, and a strong cake-decorating game. She is the author of the 2017 Parent's Choice Gold Medal winning picture book, Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is her debut novel, which is due out on May 5th, 2020. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and dog. Her dog is objectively perfect, thank you for asking.