Why Should You Hire a Doula?
First of all, what is a doula and what do they do?
The word doula comes from ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves”. Today, the word doula refers to a person who is professionally trained to provide physical, emotional, and informational support to parents during pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Sometimes there is some confusion regarding the different roles that midwives and doulas play in the birthing space. While there is some overlap in their duties, the main role of the midwife is to provide medical care to the birthing person and baby, whereas a doula does NOT provide any medical care.
You may have read that doulas decrease rates of epidural and pitocin use, cesarean birth, and length of labor, while increasing birth satisfaction. How? And what does physical, emotional, and informational support look like? Let’s break it down.
Physical Support: The majority of physical support occurs during labor itself, however sometimes physical support can start during pregnancy. Most doulas have a wealth of knowledge regarding community resources and support. A doula might recommend a prenatal yoga or pilates class, suggest a local acupuncturist to help relieve morning sickness, or a chiropractor to help turn a breech or transverse baby to a head-down position. During prenatal meetings with their clients, doulas will teach partners ways they can provide physical support to their laboring loved ones. This might include massage techniques, counterpressure techniques (such as hip squeezes), and laboring positions where they provide physical support.
Once in labor, doulas have nearly un-ending ways to provide their clients with physical support. Even if you are receiving midwifery care or even having a midwife-attended home birth, your midwife will not be in the room with you for the entirety of your labor (usually homebirth midwives arrive sometime during active labor), but your doula will. Especially in the hospital setting, midwives and nurses are busy caring for multiple patients and will be in and out of the room. Because doulas are a constant presence for their clients, they can provide support through each and every contraction and provide suggestions for position changes or other natural pain relief techniques. Because of this, doulas are often able to help keep their clients comfortable through their labors, and epidurals are not needed as often to help cope with the contractions.
Doulas are not just for those who hope to have a physiologic or low intervention labor and birth! For people who plan on using an epidural, or who thought they would prefer not to have one and then decide to use one during labor, doulas are invaluable for helping facilitate movement. Frequent movement during labor is so important in order to facilitate the movement of the baby through the pelvis. After an epidural is administered, the laboring person is more or less confined to the bed. A doula is able to recruit the help of the partner to keep the laboring person moving throughout labor - helping them turn from side to side, sit on the edge of the bed, get into hands and knees position on the bed, etc. This movement helps the baby descend through the pelvis and reduces the chances of requiring a cesarean birth.
Emotional Support: Birthing a baby is one of the most momentous of life’s experiences. It is also one of life’s most mentally and physically challenging experiences. Unsurprisingly then, many pregnant people feel nervous, anxious, or even fearful about the birth of their baby. One of the biggest roles that doulas play is helping their clients prepare mentally for birth. During prenatal meetings, doulas ask their clients how they are feeling about birth and help to acknowledge, dissect, and dissolve anxieties and fears surrounding labor and birth. During labor itself, doulas keep a very close eye on the emotional wellbeing of their clients and carry a toolbox full of strategies to help their clients feel listened to, supported, respected, and safe. They have familiarized themselves with affirmations that are helpful to the birthing person, and can identify when their clients start to feel overwhelmed or anxious and suggest ways to address and assuage those feelings. People never forget the way they were treated and the way they felt during labor and while birthing their babies. People who hired doulas for their labors are more likely to be satisfied with their birth experience and look back on it fondly in large part because of this constant emotional support.
While supporting the birthing person is a doula’s #1 job, supporting their partner is a close second. Doulas and birth partners make an excellent team. Partners know the birthing person intimately - their hopes, dreams, fears, likes, and dislikes - and a doula knows birth. A doula can suggest comfort measures and position changes, while the partner can execute those things in a way that is most comforting to the birthing person. Supporting someone in labor is not an easy task - especially if you have never witnessed birth before. Not only can labor be long and tiring, but it can be very emotionally draining as well. A doula can step in and support the laboring person while the partner takes a break to eat, drink, use the bathroom, get some fresh air, or take a rest. A doula can also be a calm and reassuring presence when labor gets intense. It can be hard for partners to see their loved one in discomfort and pain, and a doula can reassure them that everything is normal, their loved one is safe, and remind them of ways they can support the laboring person through the most intense parts of the birthing process.
Informational Support: Childbirth is an amazing process and there is so much to learn about what happens in the birthing body and baby during labor, delivery, and post delivery. There is also much to learn about the supports, interventions, and care options that are available in all birth settings - hospital, birth center, home, etc. There is no “right” way to labor and birth a baby. Each birthing person has their own unique vision of a “perfect” birth. A doula’s job is to make sure that their clients are informed about all of their options prior to labor, and to help their clients determine what their birth and postpartum preferences are.
While it is important for pregnant people to think about what their ideal birth looks like, nobody ever knows what hand they will be dealt when labor rolls around. It is not uncommon for laboring people to need to make some choices and decisions that deviate from their stated preferences. When this occurs, a doula can help create the space and time needed for a client to come to a decision that they feel good about. While we do not advocate for our clients, we do help them (or their partners) advocate for themselves.
If you are considering adding a doula to your birth team, reach out to us! We offer prenatal education on it’s own, comprehensive birth doula services and postpartum support. We’d love to hear from you!
