You may be wondering, "how exactly is a doula going to help me?" I work with each mother and her family a little different based on their needs and wishes. Below, is an essay on doula support during labor. If you have further questions about labor support, please don't hesitate or to call or email me.
Birth Doula Support
"Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear" - Jane Weiderman. In our modern day society, a majority of births have moved to the hospital, to overworked and understaffed doctors and nurses, to short prenatal appointments and not knowing who will be there the night you give birth. It used to be that women gave birth at home, attended by a midwife or perhaps a doctor and with women surrounding her to explain and to help her find her own strength to cope in the process of birth. Today, women (and sometimes even men) are stepping up to fill that role once again in the modern day recreation of the doula – a woman’s servant.
A doula provides a beneficial role to an expectant mother. She provides informational, emotional and physical support during the last trimester, birth and immediately postpartum. She “mothers the mother” during a vulnerable time in a woman’s life – while she is laboring and giving birth. She holds her hand, explains things, reminds her of things and is there for the mother in a way no one else can be. While a father and other family members can be a good support, they are not the same as the doula as they are more emotionally invested in the process and less able to think clearly. They also not usually have the training and experience that a doula has. They do however derive benefits from a doula as well. She is able to help them support the laboring mother if desired by making suggestions and teaching simple comfort techniques. The doula also gives them the ability to focus more on emotional support without feeling stressed about providing information about the process they may know little about or supplying the physical comfort measures that a laboring mother needs. The doula also allows them to come and go as needed and at their comfort level while she provides continuous emotional, physical and informational support to the mother, allowing her to focus on her labor instead of worrying about to do, what questions to ask, and asking for help. A doula is there for her, with a drink of water before she asks, a hand to hold, knowing that she will be there whenever she needs her.
What is the purpose behind labor support? In 1970, Drs. John Kennell and Marshall
Klaus, while doing mother-infant research, happened upon finding that women with doulas not only bonded better with their babies but also had fewer complications in the process. Several studies have been conducted that document the benefit of continuous labor support including the findings of Hodnett’s et al meta-analysis that showed that women who had a doula were 26% less likely to have a Cesarean Birth, 41% less likely to have a forceps or vacuum delivery and 28% less likely to use any analgesia or anesthesia. It also showed that mothers were 33% less likely to be dissatisfied with their birth experience. When a mother and her family are cared for during this critical time in their lives they cope, adjust and bond better as well as have improved obstetric outcomes. Thus we see the purpose behind labor support is a better situation for the mother, her infant, her family, and by extension, society as a whole.
The doulas responsibilities are many. First and foremost, she is there to support the mother in whatever type of birth the mother deems best for her be that medicated or not. The doula also “mothers the mother” and often times the other family members present. She assists them in obtaining information on the process of labor, birth and their options. She refers medical questions to the appropriate staff and helps remind the mother to ask them when they are present. She provides emotional support to the mother and her family throughout the process, listening, reassuring, encouraging all with respect. She provides physical support to the mother and often times, family members. She provides a calming touch to ease away tension, a steady hand while moving and the ability and knowledge to help decrease the mother’s discomfort. Her constant emotional care during labor allows a mother and her family to better bond with the newest addition. For fathers that wish to participate in supporting the mother during labor and birth, the doula allows them to do so at their comfort level, guiding and making suggestions when appropriate.
Having a doula allows a woman to let her birth be her greatest accomplishment and not a fear. There is nothing to fear when a doula is there to explain what is happening, to listen and support a birthing mother and her family during this critical time in their lives. Thanks to the modern recreation of a doula, every women and her family that wants a doula can have this knowledgeable support person by their sides continuously during the birth or addition to their family to help make the experience of childbirth one not of fear, but of accomplishment.
