Frequently Asked Questions About Doula Services
What IS a birth doula?
Doulas are birth-assistants hired to help women deliver their babies. They are knowledgeable about pregnancy and birth and help hold space emotionally as well as advocate for the birthing woman and her partner, and help provide physical relief during labour.
Doulas will typically spend time with you throughout your pregnancy in the form of several visits as well as regular correspondence.
A doula will get to know you, build a relationship of trust and understanding, answer questions, and provide resources so you can inform yourself adequately and confidently for birth.
She will help you gain clarity on the kind of birth experience you would like and assist in giving you the best chance for that outcome. Of course, birth and babies are sometimes unpredictable but your doula will be with you and your partner constantly through the labour and delivery, providing continued information, assisting in decision making upon request, and providing physical and emotional support until baby is earth-side.
Typically a birth doula will do one postpartum visit when you and your family are ready where you will have the opportunity to debrief the birth and help everyone arrive at a place where they can look back on the birth experience and feel positive, even if things didn’t go quite as planned.
What’s the difference between a midwife and a doula?
Midwives are licensed medical professionals who provide medical care during pregnancy, birth, and immediately postpartum.
Doulas, on the other hand, are not trained in, nor should they be doing anything medical. A doula’s role is to provide information and to be a support both emotionally and physically to you and your partner throughout pregnancy and particularly during labour. There are specifically trained birth doulas and postpartum doulas who specialize in support during those respective times.
How does it work? Where do we meet?
Our time together usually begins with a no-obligation meet and greet at a location of your choosing (usually people like coffee shops!). Once we decide we’re a good match, we meet 2 or 3 times over the course of your pregnancy.
Meetings can be at coffee shops, libraries, or your home-it’s up to you. We also can do zoom meetings if that works best for you, though I do recommend as much in-person time as possible because building a strong comfort level with each other is important.
At these meetings we discuss how you’re feeling, answer questions, and check in with where you might have concerns or be unclear about anything you’ve been told or any material you’ve come across. There are all sorts of things that come up and can act as a “block” to any woman feeling secure and confident in her pregnancy, the point of our meetings is to get to the roots of those blocks and remove them.
As your pregnancy progresses I’ll teach you some physical techniques that work well to help relieve discomfort during labour so you can practice them with your partner ahead of time if you wish.
Between meetings you have access to me via text, email, or phone calls for questions or concerns.
When the time comes and you go into labour, you’ll call me and I will meet you at your home (or wherever you might be!) and I will be with you every step of the way until your baby is earthside.
What are the benefits of having a doula?
Having a doula helps you to make truly educated and informed decisions about your birth. A doula is experienced in all forms of birth and will help you understand what options are being presented to you, along with the possible implications, so you can go into your birth feeling confident.
Evidence shows having a doula:
- Reduces interventions (use of pitocin- a labour inducing synthetic form of oxytocin, requests for pain medication and epidurals, use of forceps or vacuum for extraction, and unnecessary cesarean)
- Improves feelings about the birth even if things didn’t go quite as hoped or planned for
- Reduces postpartum mood disorders
- Improves breastfeeding success
Can I still have a hospital/medicated birth with a doula?
Absolutely, yes.
Doulas very often are working alongside the medical professionals in a hospital setting. Hospitals and medication don’t take away from this being a special, transformative time.
Your doula will be at your side continuously, be able to explain to you what procedures are going on and help you make decisions, provide emotional support, and give your partner a chance to take a bathroom break or a quick nap if needed! Your doula is there with you for the whole process of labour and is someone you’ve spent time with and have built a foundation of trust. Even when medicated, the sense of emotional safety a doula provides is invaluable so you can relax and surrender into the birth.
Your doula’s role is to support you and your choices, whatever they are. Unless requested, my personal feelings are not relevant. My job as your doula is to provide you with all the information you’d like on whatever route you’d like to take for your birth so you can make an informed decision. It’s YOUR birth, I’m here to hold space for you to birth how you feel comfortable.
Do I have to go into the "spiritual" side in order to work with you?
Of course not. The whole point of a doula is to assist you and your partner to build a container you both feel very safe and secure in to bring your child earth-side. If exploring the more spiritual aspects of labour and birthing doesn’t feel aligned to you, I will always respect that.
My experience with using current experiences to assist the healing of old, negative beliefs and clearing space by unravelling traumas is a unique aspect of what I have to offer in my practice, but it is not required. It’s something that my clients are invited to dip their toes in if they like – see what resonates, and decide from there if digging deeper in this way feels aligned or not.