Doula

As I get closer to the birth of my second child, I am wrapping up my time serving as a doula. I hope to come back to this role after the baby is old enough for me to be away for a few hours at a time. Meanwhile, I will be working on getting my childbirth education certification. But many people have been asking what a doula is and does. So I thought that I would give a brief description and explain why I have chosen to pursue this work.

According to Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association, “The doula serves as an advocate, labor coach, and information source to give the mother and her partner the added comfort of additional support throughout the entire labor.” (www.cappa.net). I have had the privilege of working with 3 couples now. I was able to meet with them before their birth to go over their expectations, preferences and relaxation techniques. I was then with them through their labor, usually meeting them at the hospital after they had labored at home for a while. I try to keep in contact with the couples once the labor actually begins, whether they are at home, hospital or out running errands. All of the couples that I have worked with have chosen to have natural childbirths, using natural alternatives to medication for dealing with pain and tension. My role is to support and assist the couple in their choices as well as being an advocate for them with the medical staff. Eventually, I plan to return to doula work and get my certification. But because it requires hours away from home and being on call, I can’t work in this role once the baby arrives.

When Mason was born, Dave and I did things pretty much by ourselves. Although we had a very in depth childbirth education course, we were not prepared for how long labor would go and how tired we would become. Looking back on the experience, we regret not hiring a doula to be with us. I believe wholeheartedly that my birth experience would have been very different if we had a professional with us. This is not to say that I am unhappy with my experience with Mason’s birth. On the contrary, I am very proud of Dave and myself for doing things naturally for as long as we did. It was a very empowering experience! However, there are things that I know now that I didn’t then that could have helped us have a shorter and more effective labor. All of this is to say that after his birth I began talking with other women about their stories. I was amazed at the number of women who were not satisfied with their births or who felt they didn’t have any choices in their births. Coupled with my own experience, I began to feel more passionate about childbirth education and advocacy for women in labor. After meeting with several professionals from midwives to lactation consultants, I decided education and doula work was the most appropriate fit for my passions. I found natural childbirth such a rewarding, empowering and profoundly spiritual experience and hope to help other women have a similar experience as well. I feel personally that birthing is something that should be experienced, not numbed. In America we have instilled such fear and doubt in women’s ability to birth that women have become mentally incapable of birthing outside a hospital and without medication. But the reality is, the female body is amazing in its’ design and capacity to cope and birth. The design is not flawed. For the majority of women who have uncomplicated (non-high risk) births, there is no need for the snowball of interventions that the hospital performs. I hope that more women start to ask questions about what is being done to them and why. I hope that more women make decisions based on through information from both sides of the issue. I hope that women stop blindly doing what others tell them to do simply because the doctor is the professional. Read, investigate, research, pray and make an informed decision. You have choices and options, exercise them! Have the kind of birth that YOU want, not the kind that you are told to have. This is my hope for every woman!