Why hire a doula?
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Let’s discuss some facts:
Having a Doula at your birth decreases your risk of having certain medical interventions, such as a cesarean section. (source)
Knowing that you will have continuous support from your Doula throughout your labor can be comforting and reassuring, especially when hospital staff are constantly rotating. (source)
Doulas can help demystify some of the language around birth and pregnancy and provide information or resources to help you navigate your choices.
Oftentimes, mamas want to have their partner/spouse involved in the birth experience, but this can sometimes feel overwhelming for them. So having a Doula there to help guide or encourage your partner/spouse to give you massages, help with hip squeezes, or rub your back can be that missing link.
Having a Doula on your birth support team can significantly improve your success in initiating breastfeeding. (source)
Even if you are having a planned cesarean section, or if it happens unexpectedly, Doulas can still be a significant part of your birth team by being a calming presence before and/or during delivery, providing comfort in the postpartum period, being that continuous support if baby and partner need to go to NICU, and more. (source)
Doulas do NOT push their preferences on you. Our goal is to provide you with information and resources to help you make the best birth plan for you and your baby and support you all the way through to the end, whatever that may look like.
Having a Doula or support person that you connect with can help you to feel more calm and confident throughout your labor and birth process. Being comfortable and feeling connected with your Doula is important because she often provides so much physical and emotional comfort, which can increase your levels of oxytocin. (source)
A Doula has likely attended more births, and more types of births, than you or your partner, which can be valuable experience that she can bring to your birth experience.
Doulas can often connect you with local, community resources that are out of her scope of practice but that you may benefit from. (source)
When you have a Doula in your birthing room, you also have an advocate, a friend, a support person, a champion, and an encourager. Sometimes we need help finding and using our voice in difficult or stressful moments, which can happen in labor, and Doulas do just that. (source)