Why Should I Hire A Doula?
Q: How will hiring a doula keep our birth intimate?
A: That could depend on your definition of intimate.
Hospital births:
Keep in mind that you may not have "just you, your sweetie and the doctor/midwife" in the room. Nurses come in and out. Nurses are usually busy and taking care of multiple patients and do not always have the time to build a relationship with the laboring couple. If your labor is long enough, there will be shift changes and in comes a new nurse. In my experience, I have seen as many as 3 nurses in 5 hours. In hospital births, there are sometimes many other people in and around the time of birth from the baby nurses to a respiratory therapists. In my experience, I have seen as many as 5 people in a room and that did not include the laboring woman, her family or the doula. And this was a normal, no complications, hospital birth. When giving birth in a hospital, also keep in mind that your doctor/midwife may not be around much until birth and they may not be there at all. You may have to give birth with a doctor/midwife that is on call and you may not be familiar with them. Be sure to ask your provider who may cover them if they are not available. In hiring a doula, you will have met them at least once before birth, if not more. (Unless mom goes into labor first, which I have been part of.) You will have the comfort in knowing that she is there for you will not leave you at shift change and will know what your goals are as a couple.
Home births:
A completely different setting than a hospital birth. Those that are present are those that you want to be there.
Q: Why should I hire a doula if I have a midwife?
A: For hospital births, midwives don’t always get to labor with you. She may have other patients. A doula will be there from the time you need her and after the birth.
For home births, a midwife may be in the middle of another birth when labor starts or gets more active. A doula has already scheduled to be available for you from the time you need her until after the birth. Once the baby is born, the midwife will need to take care of the baby and possibly stitch mom if there was any tearing. The doula will still be there to tend to mom.
Q: Childbirth classes should be enough to get us through labor. We learned a lot of techniques.
A: Childbirth classes are wonderful and every new parent should take them. For some couples, they are enough. For some couples, things get hectic and couples lose site of what their goals were. A doula can help remind you of your goals or help remind you of any benefits and risks if the plan needs to be altered.
Some dads are wonderful in supporting alone. Some get flustered and can’t do it. Some of the best coaches are the dads that feel they will not be good and vice versa. Its hard to predict if you haven’t been in the situation before. A doula can be there knowing she may need to provide all of the support or just as back up, in case she is needed. There are doulas that have been to births and all they did was sit in the corner.
Q: I am planning on having an epidural. Why do I need a doula?
A: Though doulas are not typically needed for as much physical comforts during epidurals, they still provide a huge service for these women. There is usually some amount of waiting on the anesthesiologist to come in before the epidural can be administered. During this time, a doula provides comfort and relaxation techniques for the laboring mom. For the administration, it is important for the mom to be still. The doula can help through this process. Once the epidural is in place, the role of the doula changes. The doula can help to make sure you have ice chips and that they are handy. She can make sure that you switch sides often enough to help labor progress. Depending on the side effects experienced, she can help you through those. She will also be there to help you cope if there is a "window" that the epidural does not seem to relieve. There are many little tasks a doula can provide to the laboring couple. During the pushing stage, she can help encourage the mom to push effectively and have ideas if this stage is prolonged and mom begins to tire. She also knows the positions that moms can be in to push when they have an epidural.
Q: We are planning on having a Cesarean Section, what can a doula do for us?
A: The one good thing about a planned C-section is that you know its coming and you will hopefully be better equipped emotionally for it. In reality, a C-section is major surgery. A doula can help by making it a birth. Different doulas will have different ideas on how to achieve this. A doula can help with family members during this time. Depending on doctor/hospital policy, a doula may be able to change with dad once baby is born and taken to the nursery so that mom has someone there while she is being stitched back up and dad can be with the baby.
A great book to read if you are undecided on hiring any kind of doula is The Doula Advantage by Rachel Gurevich.
If you are still unsure if you would like to have a doula, call or email a few and even interview with a couple of them. Most doulas provide a no-cost, no-obligation interview.
If you have any questions that are not on this list, please feel free to email me at: katrina@lullabybirths.com
"She was wlling to do whatever we needed to help us out. I am very glad I made the decision to use a doula." (M.G.)