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What Does Pregnancy Doula Do: Should I Hire One?

Some may consider doula for pregnancy the same as midwife or a nurse, but the actual role of the doula is much more complex and not defined only by medical means. Pregnancy doula is a person, usually a woman or in cases even the father of the future child who stays with the mother through the whole labour process, who actively prepares and focuses the mother to stay relaxed during these hard moments. Doula by this is someone who is personally close to the woman who is pregnant, a person who understands her needs, modes of relaxation, the ways how to encourage her to do better or shortly someone who can give her full emotional support. Pregnancy doula is often called the birth companion and birth coach as well. In some cases, women who enroll in labour focused groups and classes find the mentor of those classes to be their pregnancy doulas and to follow the rest of their pregnancy journey.

Difference Between Midwife and Pregnancy Doula

Before turning to more details about the full role of a pregnancy doula and explaining how she/he in some manner becomes almost like a member of the family for some time, you should know the basic difference between the doula and midwife.

Midwives are usually employees of public and private health institutions who work in coherence with the doctor who is in charge of following your pregnancy data. They are professionals with a degree from college or university and the list of their duties is quite vast. From writing the care/test plans, assisting, monitoring and examining pregnant women physically, towards checking the blood, doing screening, administering vitamins and medications – their work never ends. Usually, they stay available for long hours, without indicated shift time and they assist through the whole labour, much often they are even being indebted to do delivery even.

Pregnancy doulas on the other hand, except for possibility to be also assisting the pregnant women in similar way are more focused on the emotional aspect of pregnancy and except of being available almost 24/7 in the last trimester and during the labour, doulas also stay to help with the baby in the postpartum period.

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Misconceptions About Pregnancy Doulas

So, ho or what is a doula for pregnancy? Even though a doula can be a close relative, someone who passed breathing techniques class together with you, a woman who already assisted many other women before you – you may keep some prejudice and ask yourself do you really need someone except your husband, sister or best friend to always be next to you and advise you.

Pregnancy doulas are not that famous as midwives and for some people even the word ‘doula’ may sound new and unfamiliar even though this word dates back to ancient Greece.

In old ages word doula meant slave, later on it was coined as ‘the woman who serves’ but nowadays this word in combination with word pregnancy originated completely new profession.

A real pregnancy doula is considered a trainee or a doula pregnancy coach, who passed at least a short period education term or a course on all subjects related to pregnancy, labour and postpartum.

Pregnancy doulas, except for learning how to calm mother in stressful situations turned out to be great helpers in overcoming the post-birth depression which is showing ever growing tendency in recent years. You can also choose the type of music you like and enjoy your experience with music for pregnancy.

That’s why counting that doulas are less experienced or less educated does not justify the reasons to keep less of expectation from them.

Sometimes doulas are also associated with non-medical childbirth since some women who hire pregnancy doulas and feel comfortable with them can also be a women who keep the belief that childbirth is the most natural thing that was obviously happening millions of times before, thus they refuse to follow the classic steps and give birth in hospitals. Rather, they lean completely on the doulas and they help. Those women expand by word power whole positive or negative experiences regarding birth afterwards and that on some occasions opens the door for discussions which lead to constructing misconceptions in people’s minds.

How to Find the Right Pregnancy Doula?

In various countries there are different types of organizations and associations that work closely with healthcare programs and offer pregnancy aid.

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Developed countries such Australia or UK have their registered systems of pregnancy doulas, thus in these countries for instance it is easier to find a reliable person to be your own doula.

It depends if you and your doula how you will agree on terms, how many hours during the day she will stay at your service and according to that there may be different price lists.

Some people tend to check doulas background work before hiring her, some pregnant women find older pregnancy doulas more trustworthy, and some give the requirement that doula had previous healthcare experience.

Of course, it is much better if your doula is a retired nurse, but still you should keep in mind that it is maybe more suitable to have someone younger or faster who will be able to pick you up, to take you immediately to the closest hospital if something goes wrong etc.

Often is recommended to ask your medical care provider whether you initially need a doula into your team before the birth or no; since some doctors advise that is possible for any woman who does not have high risk pregnancy to do all her activities on her own and to self-educate about topics related to the birth itself.

If you decide hiring a doula for birth, you both should attend checkups together, she should have information about your blood group, family members, previous test results and similar.

How Pregnancy Doula Integrates into the Family?

Brining a stranger (relatively new person) – someone that you just met into the house and handing them the huge responsibility of assisting you with everything related to your unborn baby may seem like a completely unexpected part of pregnancy. If you already have a child and that child is in its toddler or early life phase the whole ‘hiring the doula’ plan could look questionable from far.

Pregnancy doula is someone who will share a dining table with you, who will become aware of the nature of all relations between family members in your home and for sure for a smaller kid it will be hard to just understand and perceive the meaning of a change that occurred in home.

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For the kids of a certain age, it is possible to explain to them the role of a new aunt, but the little ones will probably be scared of doulas presence in the first days.

Pregnancy doulas however often have a regulated or checked type of approach according to the situation and everything that they do is according to plan.

From the first meetings with your doula, you will certainly find a way to obtain successful two way communication and after seeing her as any other human and not only a worker, you will probably become very close friends. They say that the key of hiring the doula is to have someone to talk to, to share your concerns without shame or a thought of what that person will think of you. Openness of mind is one of the top qualities most doulas have with them. Doulas come with an aim to provide a safer environment for the whole family, not only the future mother. They try to prepare everyone for embracing the new family member, they often even suggest how it is better to organize the space for the baby and they can be good with home decor and baby shopping.

Doula role in pregnancy is unquestionable after you realize that except for spoken support, doulas can refer you to different therapists or they themselves can provide you with relaxing massage or aromatherapy. You could also want to check some ideas about pregnancy exercises that lead to healthy labor. Enjoy your pregnancy as it is!

Short Classification of Doulas:

  • A birth doula
  • A postpartum doula
  • A fertility doula
  • A full spectrum doula

Following this classification it’s easy to comprehend at first that all doulas do not offer the same kind of services. And although by their names you can conclude that some doulas separated their work for only post pregnancy period for example, luckily a higher percentage of doulas offer all types of physical and emotional services through the whole pregnancy, birth and postpartum and they are named as full spectrum doulas.

Fertility doula however is a unique category which works with you during the conception period, frequently with the couples who are trying for a longer time to stay pregnant, and their work often shown to be beneficial because sometimes the doulas first point to option of in vitro fertilization or the other methods of conceiving.