Last installment: What is a doula?

So far, we’ve learned what a doula does (What is a doula?) and what services she offers, as well as her training (Part 2 of What is a doula?).

In this last installment, we learn what an optimal birth experience could be.

What is a doula? (Part 3 of 3)

by Meredith Hocking, Birth Doula (Womb Within has its very own doula)

So what is an optimal birth experience? It is not the doula’s optimal birth experience, but the mother’s. A doula’s role is to help the mother define this for herself, and then encouraging her to make informed choices during pregnancy and labor in order to facilitate the birth experience she envisioned. It does not mean making choices for the mother, but supporting the choices she makes.

Although doulas and midwives share a common belief that birth is a natural process rather than a medical emergency waiting to happen, doulas are not midwives. You won’t find a doula doing clinical tasks, such as monitoring fetal heart tones or checking cervical dilation. We don’t tell a woman how to birth or where to birth.

While we recognize the value of technology in birth, but we also know that it can be overused. We encourage women to give informed consent, regardless of the intervention or technique. To do that, we share our knowledge with her, encourage her to learn as much as she can, and then bring our hearts, knowledge, experience, and an extra pair of hands to her birth, to help her move through her labor dance at her own pace, in her own way.

Throughout it all, we help women learn to trust their bodies, believe in themselves, advocate for themselves and their babies, and find the inner strength they will need to go through this rite of passage, as generations of women have done before. It is this strength and courage that they can then rely on as mothers, to help them continue to make good choices for themselves and their babies the rest of their lives.

In future columns, we’ll look at dads and doulas, how you can prepare for labor, the ins and outs of birth plans, informed consent, ensuring your provider is a good match for your birth philosophy, finding a doula near you, and comfort techniques. If there is something you would like to see, please let us know!

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