Doulas support women and their partners during pregnancy, throughout the birth process, and during the postnatal period. The doula is not a midwife, a nurse or a medical practitioner.
Doulas DO NOT provide medical, nursing, midwifery, or any therapeutic care. The doula provides three kinds of support:
- Informational support
- Emotional Support
- Physical support
A doula will visit you and your partner for a number of antenatal visits. The antenatal visits prepare the way for the best labour and birth for you as an individual. During these visits the doula and her client will get to know each other and the doula will share any information that you as her client may need or find helpful. This may include leaflets, books and e-books, and DVDs that she has collected and that are in her personal doula library. Most doulas make an effort to include a wide variety of information on possible issues concerning childbirth. Of course they may have their own ideas about the best childbirth, but these are personal and do not necessarily reflect the best birth for everyone. A doulas job is to serve her client, and help you discover the best birth options for yourself.
The information a doula imparts is meant for you to deepen your personal knowledge and widen your own exploration so that you can better judge your needs. As your knowledge grows you will be able to develop your birth plan and will be able to instruct your doula in the type of birth you would like. She will be able to offer suggestions about comfortable positions for labour and the optimal positions for delivering your baby, as well as strategies to assist you as you labour. You will have time to discuss this further in your antenatal visits.
When you go into labour, your doula will come to your home or meet you at the hospital depending on your arrangement.
You will ring the hospital (or your midwife in the case of a home birth) when you think you are in labour, and advise them that you will have the support of your doula. The midwife(in the case of home birth) or the hospital is responsible for your clinical care. On rare occasions when a woman progresses quickly, an birth happens quickly without much prior warning your doula is responsible to ring an ambulance and stay with you.
Your doula will stay with you through your labour, birth and usually help you get started with breastfeeding afterwards.
The Role of the Doula is to help you to achieve a positive birth experience, either natural or medically assisted. Every woman is different and every birth is different but they can all be empowering for us women and start on on the road to a good parenting journey.