5 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Doula

What is a Doula?

A doula is a support person who helps during pregnancy, labor, and birth. They are often trained and can be certified (see DONA) in providing direct care, physical support, and emotional support during labor. They may also be a source of information and support for families before or during birth, and some doulas specialize specifically in postpartum care. These are called postpartum doulas. Doulas are a well of information, having experience in the hospital and facilitating dozens of births, if not hundreds, depending on how long they have been practicing. They know the patterns, signs, and routines associated with pregnancy and labor and can help guide you through the unknowns.

Why You Should Hire A Doula

While hiring a doula may not be possible for everybody, if it is within your budget, you should consider it. After reading The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin (see my post on Essential Reads for Pregnancy, Labor, and Newborn Care), the benefits that stuck out to me most were in the passage below.

“Numerous scientific trials have compared birth outcomes of women who had doulas and those who did not. In very ‘high-tech’ hospitals with high cesarean and induction rates, women attended by doulas had fewer forceps and vacuum-extractor deliveries and fewer cesareans. They did not need to use as much pain medication. Also, women attended by a doula were more likely to report birth experiences that were satisfying than those who did not have a doula.”

Learning about reduced interventions and more positive birth experiences heavily influenced our decision to hire a doula. For my partner and me, it was important that we had minimal intervention and could understand when certain things may be necessary or unnecessary. In addition, the numerous support roles that doulas offer were something we were very interested in so we could have the most positive birth experience possible. Below, I will cover those support roles in detail.

Where To Find A Doula

Check with your local birth center to see if they have any good local recommendations. Luckily we are close to Pasadena near a birth center called Village Birth and Sara was able to provide us with some wonderful recommendations based on our budget and preferences. If you aren’t in connection with a birth center or are looking for a good online resource, DoulaMatch is a great online resource connecting families and doulas.

Interview multiple doulas and come prepared with questions. Some good doula interview questions are:

Why did you become a doula?
How long have you been a doula?
How many births have you facilitated?
What is included in your package and what is your rate?

Ultimately, you are going to be a team with your doula and want to make sure you align with the person you end up hiring. Whether its a birth doula or postpartum doula the questions might differ a bit but just make sure you like the person you are going to be spending time with.

Support Roles & Benefits of Doulas

1. Emotional Support

From the start, our doula was there for us emotionally. She came to our home several times and sat with us for hours, talking about our relationship, our preferences, and our vision for what the day of birth would look like. Ultimately, doulas help you feel cared for and give you a sense of empowerment and pride. You know that you have someone who has been through this before and understands the emotional rollercoaster that is childbirth. They will provide you with continuous presence, reassurance, and encouragement throughout the pregnancy, labor, and delivery. This can be especially important if you don’t have family nearby or your family doesn’t fill that emotional support role.

2. Physical Comfort

Feeling physically supported is incredibly important, given the key role of oxytocin in the progression of labor. Feeling physically and emotionally safe during birth is crucial to having the best outcome possible. This physical support will help you maintain a sense of control and comfort, which helps distract from some of the pain the laboring partner may be feeling. Physical support includes things like soothing touch, counterpressure, creating a calm environment, breathing and visualization techniques, and more. In the U.S., our for-profit hospital systems have gaps, and doulas can help fill that gap where hospital staff may not be able to.

3. Informed Decisions

Our doula was always there to provide additional context to any questions we had along the way. Questions like, "Is this normal?" "Should we have a membrane sweep?" "What is your experience with induction?" Our doula had numerous real-life birth stories to pull from to help guide us along the way. She had facilitated over 100 births and could tell us why something may or may not be a good decision, but she wasn’t pushy in telling us to do one thing over the other. We felt empowered with information, understood the costs and benefits, and were able to make informed decisions every step of the way. The last thing we wanted to do was make an unnecessary fear-based decision that could have been avoided altogether. The doula will help do things like educate you on the birthing process, suggest support techniques like breathing, relaxation, and movement, explain specific procedures and how common they are, guide your partner on how to assist during labor, and more. Information is power, and this is the time to feel empowered.

4. Partner Support

Depending on whether this is your first child or not, you probably have not experienced childbirth before. You can do all the prep work via classes and YouTube, but when it comes to the actual event, emotions are high, and it may be hard to recall the information from the class you took three months ago. This is where the doula can step in and be that real-time coach—explaining how to do the counterpressure, assisting with affirmations, guiding you in breathing techniques, and helping with visualization. During labor, it’s your job to keep your laboring partner calm and comfortable, and you and the doula will work as a team to bring your child into the world.

5. Reduced Interventions

In the U.S., our healthcare industry operates as a for-profit entity, and because of this, priorities may not always be aligned around comfort, happiness, and a positive experience. It is fairly common for interventions to happen when they may not be necessary, resulting in potential cesareans, episiotomies, and more. It’s important to have someone in the room who has experience guiding others through childbirth to know when an intervention is necessary and when it is not. This goes hand-in-hand with informed decisions, but it’s worth highlighting as a standalone benefit. Unless there is an emergency, you should have time to think through a decision you may need to make. This is where your doula can help you understand the specific decision, talk about her past experience and knowledge, and guide you in making the best decision possible for your family.

Conclusion

Having a doula has historically been shown to improve the birth experience for women. As the non-birthing partner, knowing these benefits can help you and your partner make the decisions you need for your family. It’s entirely possible that you and your partner feel comfortable without a doula, which is totally fine, and people do it all the time. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a negative experience. If you feel like you may need that extra support and information during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, a doula may be a good decision for you. Make sure you do your interviews and choose the doula who aligns with your family and your values, so you have the best experience possible.

Additional Resources

The Birth Partner - The holy bible for to-be dads. Just buy it!
DONA International - Doula certification webpage
DoulaMatch - Online resource connecting families with doulas.
Evidence Based Birth - An amazing resource that provides evidence-based information to communities to make empowered choices.