Kanwal Haq, a New York-based doula, was on a plane home from a vacation last September when she received a text from her client: “It’s game day here.”

The baby was arriving a week earlier than planned.

“They are keeping me in triage right now though because I’m only 3cm,” her client, Alyssa Coats-Clark, wrote. “But boy do these contractions hurt!”

“Let’s get BABY BOY EZRA HERE!!!” Ms. Haq wrote back, adding a series of suggestions for what Ms. Coats-Clark could ask the nurses for in order to reduce her discomfort.

It was the first birth Ms. Haq, 34, had helped with. And, though she hadn’t envisioned doing so while in the air, the plan was always to support Ms. Coats-Clark, who lives in Indiana, remotely.

Ms. Haq, in conversation over text with her client, as well as with Ms. Coats-Clark’s husband and mother, was able to support the delivery from afar, offering guidance about labor positions, pain-relief and insights into how things would likely progress.