What is a Doula?

So what is a doula, exactly? "Doula" literally means "a woman who serves". Doulas provide continuous physical, emotional, and informational/educational support for expecting mothers (and their partners) during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery. Our ultimate goals are to help recenter the focus on the birthing mother, and to help women achieve their ideal birth experience. Of course, birth is sometimes unpredictable, and when things don't go totally as planned we are still there to provide unconditional support and compassion for birthing mothers. We assist in home births, birthing centers, hospitals, and everywhere in between. We come as soon as labor begins and are there until baby arrives (and for a little bit after).

Many people often get doulas and midwives confused. We work alongside other care providers, such as doctors and midwives, but unlike them we do not provide medical care. While we have a breadth of knowledge relating to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery, including that of medical procedures and terminologies, we are not medically trained nor licensed. But our job is equally as important, as birth doulas are there from the moment labor starts until after the baby is born.

There are many benefits to having a birth doula, benefits which have been supported by numerous studies. The presence of a doula has been shown to shorten labor--as we have specialized training in comfort techniques--reduce the incidence of interventions and c-sections, enhance the bonding experience between mother and baby, and improve the success rate of breastfeeding, for women who choose to breastfeed. The latter two benefits are also true for postpartum doulas.

Postpartum doulas are doulas who assist mother and baby during the postpartum recovery period. They help with things such as providing breastfeeding support, emotional support for the new parent(s), assist with house chores, and help take care of the new baby—or other children already in the home.

Not all birth doula is a postpartum doula (and vice versa). However, what we do all have in common is that we are all committed to providing the highest level of care and support for our clients.