A doula is a professional that is trained in childbirth. She provides emotional, physical, and informational support to the woman who is pregnant. The doulas role is to help women have a safe, memorable, and empowering birth experience.
In ancient Greece, the highest woman servant in the household was called a ‘doula’. A doula in today's world is many things. A friend, a teacher, a coach, a "mother to the mother." Primarily, a doula’s job is to make the experience of childbirth as comfortable and enjoyable as possible for you. To help you not go astray from your birth plan, to educate you to make fully informed birthing decisions, and support you from pregnancy to breastfeeding. Doulas have been trained in many ways to relieve pain naturally and to give comfort/encouragement to the mom, dad, and/or partner.
Effects on the birth outcome:
- Labors are 25%-50% shorter (by an average of 98 minutes)
- There are fewer complications
- Cesarean rates are reduced by up to 51%
- There is a 40% less need for Pitocin to speed up labor
- Use of forceps is reduced by 57%
- Women request less or no pain medications and epidurals (30%-60%)
Effects on the parents:
Effects on the baby:
- Women report greater satisfaction with childbirth and their abilities to be a good mother
- Mothers have more positive assessments of their babies
- Less postpartum depression
- 70% of couples were more satisfied with their relationship six weeks postpartum, compared to only 30% of couples without doulas.
- Newborns have shorter hospital stays and fewer admissions to special care nurseries
- Newborns breastfeed more easily
- Facilitates affectionate bonding between mother and child postpartum
I have been trained in various methods of natural pain relief. I can inform you of your rights and choices during labor and help you to communicate with your midwife/doctor, nurses, friends, and family.
While nursing staff will come and go, I will stay by your side throughout your entire labor and birth. After the birth of your baby.
I am not a medical professional. I can not perform exams on you, monitor your baby, take vitals or anything else that would normally be done in a clinical setting. I cannot deliver your baby or assist the midwife in delivery. I am there for you first! All my attention will be on providing for your needs, and then your husband's/birth partners needs.
I will support you no matter what you choose for your birth or where you choose to birth- in at home, at the hospital, or at a birthing center. A lot of new mothers choose to have some form of pain relief, which is perfectly fine and your right.
As a doula, I will encourage you and offer alternatives to interventions weeks before you go into labor.
Regardless of what you choose, I will be by your side and help you to be comfortable despite the circumstances. Before your birth I will share links and resources to all the pros and cons of all medical interventions you will see at the hospital. This is so you and your partner can be prepared and informed to make your own decision on how you birth.
