A doula is a trained professional labor support person who acts as a liaison between the birthing family and the medical providers. A doula is a fantastic resource before labor even begins as she serves as a "sound board" for any questions or concerns that may arise throughout the course of pregnancy leading up to a family's labor. A doula can help a mother stay at home longer before going to a birthing facility, which can help in avoiding interventions and pain medications. Furthermore, a doula helps to provide the emotional, physical, and even mental support the birthing mother needs to get through the hurdles of her labor with more ease and confidence. Below is information on how a doula can help as shared from DONA International:
Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.
A Birth Doula
- Recognizes birth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life
- Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in
- labor
- Assists the woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth
- Stays with the woman throughout the labor
- Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective
- viewpoint, as well as helping the woman get the information she needs to make
- informed decisions
- Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her
- clinical care providers
- Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting the woman's memory of the birth
- experience
- Allows the woman's partner to participate at his/her comfort level
