So you are going to have a baby. You’ve likely spent a lot of time shopping for baby items, attending prenatal classes and/or reading up on what to expect during your birthing time. After all the birth of your baby is an experience you will remember and hopefully cherish for the rest of your life. So why not hire someone who can help ensure that you have the best possible experience? Someone who can help you & your partner feel completely informed, in control of the situation, and guide you both through the medical terminology, help with tips for comfort and progression and provide you with emotional support on your big day?

A Birth Doula can do just that! She recognizes birth as an experience the mother will remember all her life and her ultimate goal is to foster a positive birth memory which can increase a woman’s self-esteem and strengthen her relationship with partner and baby.

A birth doula does this by:

• assisting the woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth
• staying with the woman throughout labour
• providing emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint,
• helping the woman and partner to get the information they need to make informed decisions
• understanding the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labour
• allowing the woman’s partner to participate at his/her comfort level – a doula’s role in no way takes away from or replaces the role of the partner.

Studies have shown that when doulas attend births, labours are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.

Couples expecting their first child sometimes choose to go it alone, believing they have the tools and knowledge to navigate their birthing experience on their own. Sometimes they may feel that they do not want a stranger, even a professional, to tag along and impede on the intimacy they want to create for their birthing time. However, they fail to recognize that they can only birth this baby once. Even if they are planning on having more children, studies have shown that this birth experience may influence many things including how you remember your child’s birth, your breastfeeding relationship, your self-esteem, and your relationship with your partner.

Plus doulas have a wonderful talent for fading into the background when the couple requires privacy. They also help create a wonderfully intimate environment because they know women need a safe, dimly lit and comfortable environment to birth in. In addition, doulas remind the birthing couple of their birth plans or desires for their birthing time and offer tips or guidance for achieving their birthing goals when things may not be going according to plan.
But doulas are not just for first time moms. Moving from pregnancy to parenting, whether it be your first child or fourth, is a major life transition. How a family is supported during this transition has a major influence on how they feel about it. Doulas offer families support throughout the transition from pregnancy to parenting and help ensure a positive experience.

I recently heard a doula compared to a wedding planner and I think it’s a good analogy. Just like with your wedding, you have planned for this event for many months. Many people hire a wedding planner to ensure that the day runs smoothly and they have the best possible experience. Similarly, many couples are now choosing to hire a Birth Doula to help educate them of their birthing options, provide them with non-judgemental support and help ensure a positive birthing experience.

So is hiring a doula right for you? Only you and your partner can answer that. However, the majority of couples who have birthed with a doula at their side would completely recommend it and even say they wouldn’t birth again without one.

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Contributor:

Sarah Joseph, BSW, CGE, HCHI, HCHD

 

We are Sarah and Rhiannon, and our business is Prenatal to Parenting. We are both moms to almost 4 kids between us! Rhiannon has a daughter, Ava, who is 6 and a son, Luke, who just turned 4 years old! Sarah has a 2.5 yr old son, Parker and is expecting a baby girl very soon!  We are both Hypnobabies Instructors, birth doulas, hypno-doulas and postpartum doulas. And soon, Rhiannon will be Sarah’s doula for the birth of her daughter!

We offer a wide variety of services that can meet the needs of parents anywhere along the continuum from prenatal to parenting, including: Hypnobabies prenatal classes, an early pregnancy class, doula services, placenta services, parent education (including The Bringing Baby Home Program) and parent support services. Our parenting workshops cover topics such as Sleep Solutions, Parenting Together When Your Parenting Styles Collide, Positive Discipline and Sibling Solutions, to name just a few. All of classes are available privately as well as in group settings.

Tags: babies, baby items, birth doula, births, couples, emotional support, informed decisions, labour, physiology of birth, prenatal classes, relationship, self esteem

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 6:30 am and is filed under Contributors, Education, Parenting Articles, Parenting Workshops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.