What's a Doula?

I am so passionate about my work.  I love making a difference in the lives of families and helping them to a better birth experience.  My biggest challenge? Educating women that they have options! This is their birth experience!  Most people don't even realize that they can make choices to influence a better birth experience.  Too many people have never heard of a doula despite the great statistics there are on the benefits of using a doula.  Most women don't realize that their partner is not their doula, rather the doula and the partner work as a team.  Most men don't realize how much they'll appreciate the help from a doula so that they too can enjoy the birth experience. To both you and your partner, a doula is a comforting constant, especially when in a hospital setting where there's nurse shift changes and a greater chance of interventions. 

 So what's a doula?

Someone who knows, with unshakable conviction that women were designed to have babies. Someone comfortable with the fact that labor and delivery take as long as they take, and someone that is adept at soothing a mother through the pain and anxiety of childbirth. -Crystal

A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous support throughout labor.  It is a Greek word meaning "woman who serves."  A doula supports the emotional and non-clinical physical needs of the laboring mother and her partner. 

We'll save "what's a postpartum doula" for another blog. 

So why use a doula??

• Continuous support from another woman has been proven to have a positive impact on labor. Birth Matters!
• Having a doula as part of your birth team decreases the cesarean rate by 50%, the length of labor by 25%, the use of oxytocin by 40%, and the requests for an epidural by 60% -according to the American Pregnancy Association
• A doula can help ease the stress of labor for the birth partner and can help him share in the birth at his level of comfort.
• Women who use a doula report more satisfaction with their birth experience.
• A doula helps you have Your Birth, Your Way!

http://www.dona.org/
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/havingadoula.html

I'm passionate about women knowing their options and educating themselves about their pregnancy and birth!  This is an amazing part of the Journey of life, perhaps the most important; that first moment of bonding between mother and child begins a lifetime of love.