What is a Birth Doula?
A birth doula offers physical, emotional, unbiased informational and spiritual support throughout someone’s pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum journey. Recognizing this time as a key experience in a families life that will always be remembered. Doulas can help families create a birth plan, navigate their care with informed consent, and refer evidence based information and resources. A birth doula is there to support the birther’s plan, and practice using their intuitive parenting as they navigate decisions.
Doulas offer continuous support throughout labor, birth and the first few hours postpartum. We help birthers with positioning and movement, massage/touch, verbal affirmations, nourishment, creating a gentle birthing environment, helping to navigate possible complications in a calm manner. Our support does not only reach the birthing person but also the partner, friends and family that may be present. Helping them feel nourished, empowered throughout the experience and to help them to plug into support in a way that is best for everyone. We are there to normalize birth. Doulas do not replace medical care, in fact we do not do anything medical. We are there to work hand in hand with medical professionals to create a well rounded care team to support the birthing family.
Research shows that people who use a birth doula are:
Less likely to need Pitocin
Less Likely to have a cesarean
Less likely to use any pain medication
More likely to rate their birth experience positively
What is a Postpartum Doula?
A postpartum doula offers scheduled support by the hour for families in their postpartum time. We help with physical aspects like breastfeeding, pumping, soothing, sleep and other infant care that may be confusing especially in such a vulnerable time. We are there to help cook, do laundry, give foot massages, organize meal trains, hold the baby or plug in anywhere that is needed to help parents feel rested and nurtured. We hold space, listen to their story, normalize their experience, know when something is off, offer healing exercises like journal prompts or meditations.