Hold up: what's a doula? Yoo hooo, Wikipediaaa:
A doula (pronounced "doó la",[1] also known as a labour coach[2] is a non-medical person who assists a woman before, during, or after childbirth, as well as her partner and/or family by providing information, physical assistance, and emotional support.[1] The provision of continuous support during labour by doulas, or nurses, family, or friends, is associated with improved maternal and fetal health and a variety of other benefits.[1][4]
A variety of organizations offer certification and training to doulas, though there is no oversight to their practice and the title can be used by anyone.[5] In contrast to the goal of medical professionals (a safe childbirth), the goal of a doula is to ensure the mother feels safe and confident before, during, and after delivery.[6]
Not to be confused with Medulla, part of the brain, referenced in this clip from an academic film:
So then--we've contracted these two doulas, one of which will be on-call and thusly present at the time of my labor and delivery. They are unabashedly pro-natural birth, although I'm positive that's not the only situation you can use them in. I do have plans to have an unmedicated water birth, and although I have heard the midwife practice I'm now seeing works well within the boundaries of what I'm hoping for, I decided to go with a doula for a couple of reasons:
1: If your midwife is attending to more than one birth, you will obviously not be attended to by someone you know and trust for part of the time you're at the hospital. Your doula will be there from the start of your active labor (they come to your home and "labor sit" until your contractions are pretty close together and intense, instead of letting the hospital clock you from the minute you think something is happening) until up to two hours after you deliver.
2. You get to review your birth plan and any other details you're fiddling with a few weeks before you get into the reverse thunder-dome (one person enters, two people leave), which prepares the doulas to advocate for you. Awesome.
3. Advocate really means remind you of what you wanted if for some reason you're panicking or your husband has fainted. They can't speak for you--that's still something you and your partner have to do--but they can be a strong presence for you, and give you emotional support if your practitioner is absent or a bit prickly (or again, if your husband has fainted). That being said, Frank's not sure how calm he's going to be on that fateful day, so we feel comfortable having some extra help on board--for both of us. They're not there to squeeze out your significant other, they're there to help you help each other.
4. One is a massage therapist--BONUS.
They have a ton of experience between them, and had some great insight about the practice and hospital I'll be birthing with that I really would have had no way of knowing otherwise. They knew a lot about a number of practices and hospitals--an earlier conversation with them actually led me to the practice I'm with now.
I found that this has been a great, great reliever of anxiety. I didn't want to wait until my second birth to try the way I really wanted, and finding someone knowledgeable about my corner of the world made me comfortable enough to make the jump safely away from a practice with a 96% epidural rate. Where I am right now, I know it won't be strange for me to say, no thank you, I don't want an IV, or, I'd like to take a bath now. That's just how they do stuff.
And I hear all of your brains right now--maybe you think I'm a hippie, but some hippies actually get to enjoy having a baby instead of fearing pain and misery. That's what I plan to do.
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