Steady Ground

About Steady Ground

Labor is a bad time to remember anything.

Somewhere around hour nine, the position that was working stops working, and nobody in the room can think of what to try next. That isn't a failure of preparation — it's what tiredness does to people, and it happens to almost everyone.

This is a deck you fan out on a bed or a windowsill and pick from. Forty-four cards, one job each. Pull one, do what it says, put it down. If it doesn't help, pull another. That's the whole method.

There's no order and nothing to work through, and it doesn't matter which of you picks one up — most of the cards are things a support person does or says, and a few are meant to be read out loud to whoever is in labor.

The six kinds

• Breathe — grounding, breath, and finding the floor again
• Move — positions, movement, and rest
• Comfort — hands, heat, cold, water, light, food
• Say — words that help, and the ones that don't
• Ask — what to ask when something is recommended
• When it changes — a plan that stops being usable, a cesarean, and the hour after

At a glance

What it is

A printable deck of 44 labor-support and decision-making cards. This is a PDF you print and cut yourself — nothing is shipped.

Who it's for

Anyone giving birth, and whoever is with them, in any setting. Useful from about 36 weeks.

How you use it

Print, cut, fan them out, and pull one when you need something to try. No order, nothing to learn first.

Format

Two PDFs of the same 44 cards: full-color, and a low-ink version with a colored band instead of a colored background. 15 pages each. Cards are 3½ × 5 inches, four to a US Letter sheet, with cut marks.

Printing

Eleven sheets per set. Print at 100% / Actual size — not Fit to page. Cardstock (65–110 lb) if you have it; ordinary paper works and the cards are just floppier. Scissors or a craft knife and a ruler. Worth printing one sheet first to check the cut marks.

What you receive

An email right after checkout with two download links: Mycelia_SteadyGround_v1.0_2026-09_full-color.pdf and …_low-ink.pdf.

Looking for finished, professionally printed cards? That's a separate edition I'm testing now. It isn't for sale yet, and this listing is the printable PDF only.

Before you buy

How you get it

A download link, emailed right after checkout. Each link works for 7 days and 5 downloads; if it runs out, request fresh links on the order page or write to contact@myceliabirth.com.

Yours to print

For you and your household — as many copies as you need, for yourself and your support people. Please don't resell, share or post the file.

Updates included

If I revise it, you get the new version free, by email.

Refunds

Within 14 days, for any reason, and you can keep the file. See the shop terms.

Reading it

Real text, not scanned images, so a screen reader can read it and you can search and zoom. Need a different format? Ask me and I'll sort it out.

What this is

Educational and supportive material from a non-clinical doula practice. It doesn't diagnose anything and it doesn't replace your midwife, doctor or pediatrician. If something worries you, call them. In an emergency, call 911.