What’s a doula and why do I need one?

A doula provides companionship to a laboring mother.  A doula is not necessarily a medically trained person, but provides physical, emotional, and informational support.  I hired a doula for the birth of my first baby.  My doula was an experienced mother of 7 and was worth her weight in gold when I started early labor contractions a few days before Christmas.  My doula coached me on the phone and later that day, came to the house to try acupressure points to stimulate labor.  She accompanied me to the hospital on Christmas Eve and stayed with me through Christmas Day!  Through it all, she helped me through contractions, kept me on course for the natural birth I was hoping for, and advocated for me to my (unsupportive) obstetrician.  Doulas are helpful for natural births, medicated births, c-section births, home births, all births!  Recent studies have shown that having a doula lowers postpartum disability.  Overall, people who receive continuous labor support are more likely to a have a normal vaginal birth, less likely to have pain medication, negative feelings about childbirth, and have lower rates of C-sections*.  My personal birth experience might have been much different if I didn’t have a doula.

There are also postpartum doulas, miscarriage doulas, and death doulas. For more information on doulas, check out www.doulamatch.com or for an awesome local source www.holisticbirthandbeyond.com.

*Taken from www.evidencebasedbirth.com