What are the benefits of a birth doula?
What are the benefits of a birth doula?
Countless scientific trials examining doula care demonstrate remarkably improved physical and psychological outcomes for both mother and baby. Doulas have a positive impact on the well-being of the entire family (DONA). Benefits include: greater chance of vaginal birth, shorter duration of labor, decreased rate of cesarean birth, decreased instrumental delivery, decreased need for pain medications, improve baby’s APGAR scores, and increase positive feelings surrounding birth experience.
What is a doula?
A doula is a person, typically without formal obstetric training, who is employed by the birthing person to provide guidance and support during pregnancy, labor, and birth. A doula is a person trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a birthing person before, during, and just after childbirth. Doula’s help to support birthing families through the life changing experience of having a baby.
Physical Support
Do you know the greatest tool a doula carries with them to a birth? It is not essential oils or a rebozo cloth. It is our HANDS! Physical touch from someone who genuinely cares about you and understands what you are going through, can make all the difference in how you feel during labor. A simple, gentle touch with our hands between your furrowing brows and saying something simple like “let it all go” can instantly help a mama in labor relax and come back to her focus and center. Or, if we can tell mama’s shoulders are raised and holding a lot of tension, then we’ll gently put both of hands on her shoulders and gently apply pressure to remind her to let it all go and to relax her shoulders which in turn relaxes the rest of her body and brings her back to her center. These two moves repeated several times throughout the course of labor, while simple and subtle, can help mama to relax, let go, and refocus her attention. Other ways we provide physical support is through massage; rubbing mama’s feet, legs, arms, back. Assisted support while standing, hip squeezes, holding a hand or a leg, and suggesting different positions to try to help provide comfort and progression during labor are all ways we provide physical support.
Informational Support
We have professional training, education, plus our own experiences, and many years attending births. We tap into all of this to provide the best, most effective, evidence based, and relevant information that is specific to our client’s needs. We’ve learned through experiences as a doula that not everyone needs or wants to know everything. We spend our time together focusing on exactly what it is that you and your partner need and want to know. We like to ask thought provoking and soul-searching questions that will gently guide you forward and into your own educational journey. “Knowledge is not power, APPLIED knowledge is power.” (Dale Carnegie)
Emotional Support
Providing emotional support looks different for each person. We show up in the way that you need us to show up. We are here to listen, hold space, provide gentle feedback, and provide outside resources and referrals when needed. While pregnant, hormones can be up and down in ways that we don’t understand and that make us feel like we don’t know ourselves. Nor do our partners know how to best handle or help. Having a doula there to remind you that things are normal, or to provide helpful ways to address the emotional roller-coaster, increased anxiety and depression, and to provide additional information and referrals when needed can have a tremendous benefit to the overall experience from pregnancy through postpartum. Having a “third-party” person (doula) to talk with can help lift some of the added pressure and stress that the partner may have when they don’t know how to answer or help. We can provide tips for both you and your partner to help you through all the changes you may experience throughout this journey.
Support for the partner
If you have a spouse or close friend or family member who wants to join you during your labor and birth, then as your doula, we also provide necessary support and guidance for them as well. We don’t replace your partner; we enhance the relationship between the two of you. We provide tips and guidance to the partner for how they can lovingly and effectively participate in the process. Sometimes the partner may try to fix the situation. But oftentimes, nothing needs to be “fixed”. We will remind them of ways they can support that don’t always involve fixing a situation. Some examples of this include encouraging them to massage your feet or rub your back, reminding them to offer you a drink of water, turn on your favorite playlist, hug you. We also remind them to take care of themselves so they can help take care of you. We are there to help the partner understand what is going on and where mama is at in the stages of labor. I like to bring calm confidence to the room and remind the partner (and mama too) that this is not an emergency and to guide you through the decision-making process as things arise during the pregnancy, labor, birth. This applies to the postpartum time too. We will remind the partner of ways they can help when mama is consumed with breastfeeding, recovering, and adjusting to the new normal (as they should be). Ways to bond with the baby include diaper changes, burping, rocking the baby, reading to the baby, cooking meals, ordering food from a restaurant and having it delivered, filling large cups of water and placing them nearby while mama is breastfeeding, words of encouragement, etc. There are SO MANY ways the partner can participate in a very impactful and long-lasting way.
The numbers
Research studies have confirmed that having a doula during your pregnancy, labor, and birth can both reduce the rate of unnecessary interventions (including decreased cesarean rate by 30%) and the rate of people who feel they had a positive birth experience by having a doula present is 96%. Countless scientific trials examining doula care demonstrate remarkably improved physical and psychological outcomes for both mother and baby. Doulas have a positive impact on the well-being of the entire family (DONA). Benefits include: greater chance of vaginal birth, shorter duration of labor, decreased rate of cesarean birth, decreased instrumental delivery, decreased need for pain medications, improve baby’s APGAR scores, and increase positive feelings surrounding birth experience.
Advocacy
We will support you and your right to make decisions about your own body and baby. Period! This is not about anyone but you, your baby, and your family. We’ll encourage you to ask questions and verbalize your preferences. We’ll ask what you want. We’ll support your decisions. We will also help to amplify your voice if you are being dismissed, ignored, or not heard by saying something like “excuse me, she’s trying to tell you something, I wasn’t sure if you heard or not.” We will create and hold space for you and your family so that you can ask questions, gather evidence-based information, and make decisions without feeling pressured. We will help by teaching you and your partner positive ways to communicate with your care provider.
Empowerment
Witnessing a woman gain confidence as she learns more about the physiological process of pregnancy, labor, and birth and witnessing her find her voice and ask thoughtful questions of me and her care provider…THIS is truly a beautiful thing. This is the definition of empowerment. We don’t empower you. YOU empower YOU! You choose to be an active participant in your care not a passive recipient of medical technology. YOU find your voice and speak up to ensure you are getting the best care for you and your family. YOU are your own best advocate…and we are here to help you bring to light what already exists inside of you. We firmly believe in the natural, physiological process of pregnancy, labor and birth. It is tried and true and we trust that when left alone or minimally interrupted, it is a very safe and healthy process that can leave women and their partners feeling confident in themselves and each other. How you are treated and how you feel during the birthing process has the potential to transcend everything and transform you into the incredible mother you are destined to be. We wholeheartedly believe in sharpening and listening to your own intuition. We can do this by not ignoring those little tugs at your heart and mind trying to tell you something. Listen...trust…follow what your gut says. We like to gently remind you of what you already know and to encourage you to stop doubting themselves. Witnessing this transformation is one of the greatest joys we experience from being not only a doula, but a champion and advocate for women and their families.
What to do next?
Schedule a FREE 45-minute consultation to discuss your desires for your upcoming birth as well as learn more about how we can support you during this very important time in your life. We look forward to connecting with you soon!