Explain a Doula

Not to be too condescending, but doulas do a whole lot of nothing. I had one with my only pregnancy and I can't say that it was at all worth the money or having another "cook in the kitchen" so to speak. The previous statements are true, they are there for support, which means that they sit in the room encouraging you and can bring you your pillow or something to drink. Well, your husband and family are doing the same thing for free. They do offer you info if you need it, but as a second time mom, how much do you really need it? As a first time mom, my doula didn't tell me anything that I hadn't already been reading about as an obsessive mom-to-be. Post-partum, they could be of help in caring for you while you are recovering, but again I mention that your husband and family might already be doing that at no charge.
My intent isn't to down the doula experience. This was what mine was like; she was nice, but didn't do anything that my husband and family weren't already doing for free.

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Hi C.. I am a doula and I can help you out in understanding what a doula does. Check out my website at www.tendermomentsdoula.com, and you can also check out cappa.net. I think that is right. That is the organization that I am certified with. If that website does not work let me know. You can call me too if you want to know more. It would be so much easier to talk to you by phone and explain this, and also, I have other things I can send you for you to read and get a better understanding. Doulas are great. I had 2 doulas, a midwife and my dh when I had my 3rd child who is now 4, and I was a doula at the time, and it was just an amazing experience. The others were great too, but this birth was something else. I could send you my birth story if that might help too. I can also call you if you would rather. Just give me your number and a good time to call you.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

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Hi C.,
A doula is a woman (mostly, altho there are about 5 men in the country who are trained doulas) who provides emotional support to you and your partner during the prenatal and birthing process. She is trained in the process enough to help encourage labor progress with body positions and comfort measures. She is able to help when it comes to understanding what the staff may be talking about, and can serve as an advocate for your wishes and desires. She is available to answer questions, knows when to defer to your caregiver and can sometimes provide some childbirth education prenatally. She is versed in early breastfeeding support and can help with that first latch. She can provide back rubs, knows pressure points to help with comfort and progress, runs erands, such as getting both you and your partner drinks and food for your partner. Mostly, she is able to take the pressure off of your partner so they can support you in the way they feel most comfortable. A doula is very skilled at fitting in to the birth team where she feels she fits most. During a long labor, she may send the partner off for a 10 minute nap, which works wonders in the middle of the night. I don't know where you live and I am somewhat unfamiliar with the birthing climate here in the Chicago area as I am a recent transplant from Seattle, where the doula movement gained it's strength in the early 90's. You can look at the internation organizations website at: www.dona.org and find all kinds of information. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions that you think that I could help with. Best wishes....J. Dowers ____@____.com .

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Dear C., my name is D. Conte and I am a doula. I am sorry for the lady in the first response. We do many things, we are there "yes" for support. I am trained through DONA "Doulas of North America". I have been a doula for 12 years. There are close to 3,000 in North American and I am #55. Doulas who are trained through DONA are trained in massage techniques, breathing patterns, etc. I could go on and on. We do not step in and take Dad or members of the family position or the nurses for that matter. I think we enhance there role. We help with birth plans, if you want one. We help you before, during and after your birth, at least I do. If you are going to breast feed we can help you start with that. Like I said I can go on and on. Please feel free to contact me at ____@____.com or feel free to call me 815/474-1678.

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Hi C.,

Well, there are two kinds; partum and post-partum. Partum doulas are there for emotional support and guidance during your baby's delivery. They in no way "take over" the roll of the father (many men's worry) but instead are there to take care of the things that you both would need during delivery; explaining what is happening now, showing/telling dad what he should do now to help, even getting you water if you need it. Quite often they also act as your support and "inforcer" for your birthplan if an overzelous nurse wants to talk you into an epidural and you don't want one (don't be surprised). Having said that, doulas are also helpful if epidurals and even c-sections are taking place simply for the support they can provide.

Post-partum doulas assist the family after everyone comes home. This can be in the form of breastfeeding support, looking out for signs of post-partum depression, asking questions about your health to be sure you are healing properly and there and no pending infections, even helping prepare meals and do some light cleaning (laundry, straigtening up) so you can feed and bond with the new baby, not answering the door for the UPS guy because you got another gift or grocery shopping. I work as a post-partum doula for Birthways, Inc. ( www.birthwaysinc.com; ###-###-#### ) but I work straight evenings so I will feed the baby so mom can sleep, do sleep training, and change laundry, even cook for mom at 3am if she is breastfeeding (or not) and hungry. The idea is to free you up to be a mom, to bond with your child and help the adjustment for the whole family by allowing you all to be with each other as the doula takes care of the support roles.

Feel free to look up our company website. We've been around for 10+ years in Chicago and have about 20 doulas that work either day or night. Someone from our staff is always on-call and they are very prompt to returning calls if you decide to leave a message after hours. Background checks and references are standard practice and if one doula isn't working out (personalities are all different, it does happen) Birthways would address your issue and send out another. This is probably the most consciencious company I have ever worked for in my life (I was a NASDAQ trader for some pretty big companies prior to this).

You're smart for thinking about a douls while you are still in the planning stages. Calling in the eleventh hour usually just gets you whoever is open but by taking the time to address your needs you can get the support that you need and fits you and your growing family perfectly.

Take Care, feel well,
L.

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