Do I need a doula?
I’ve birthed a baby without a doula and I’ve birthed a baby with one. Trust me when I say that the difference was enormous!
I am the one giving birth: why would I want a doula?
That was totally my attitude going into my first baby… well actually that’s not completely true because I didn’t know what a doula was.
But it was my approach to pretty much everything birth related. In my head, all I needed was some space, some whale music, some hoola-hoops and a hospital setting to have a positive birth.
My little millennial brain was set in its totalitarian-controlling ways: I would manage my emotions, I would stay in control. Not for a single minute did I consider that I would want anything more than the practical logistics needed to get my baby out of my body.
To cut a long story short, I was wrong. The arrival of my baby was not traumatic as such, but it was long and emotional and it pushed me to the edge. Looking back, knowing all I know now, it could have been SO much better with the right support.
And so when I became pregnant again, and started prepping for my second daughter’s birth, a doula was right up there on my ‘things I need for birth’. Not for my baby, and not for my body, but for me.
I wanted to experience birth on my terms. I wanted to feel powerful and in control and safe. And I knew that the best person to give that to me was someone who knew birth, who was totally on my side, and who was emotionally distanced enough from me and the baby to stay completely calm.
It took a while to find her, but when we found ‘our’ doula everything fell into place and, despite a rocky pregnancy, with her support at the right time and in the right way, my baby’s birth became utterly glorious. So glorious in-fact that I became one myself!
Why? Not because I want to hold babies day and night, because I want as many people as possible to have a birth like mine. No, I don’t mean a waterbirth, or a natural birth, or a c-section: I mean a birth they can look back on and say…
“Wow. That was incredible. I am incredible.”
What do doulas actually do?
Well, doulas are not medical professionals, but they can have a really significant role in an individual’s experience of labour and birth.
Unlike a midwife or an obstetrician whose responsibility is for the health and medical wellbeing of mother and baby, a doula’s focus is more holistic than that.
Doulas are like your birth BFF – they offer emotional and physical support during pregnancy, labour, and during the postnatal period. They're there to hold your hand (literally and metaphorically), answer your questions, and provide encouragement when you're going through one of the most intense experiences of your life.
Now, you might be thinking, "Can't my partner, friends, or family offer that support?" Of course, they can, and they absolutely should. But, doulas bring a unique expertise to the table because they see the arrival of a baby from a more holistic angle. They’re experienced in childbirth, how it happens and how it can look in loads of different settings; and because doulas work on a one-to-one basis with their clients, they are totally and utterly person-centred.
From a personal perspective, this is THE BEST thing about being a doula! Every client is physically, emotionally and logistically different and so the type of support they’ll want will vary too. Normally, a doula will offer the following types of support for clients to choose from:
antenatal education and classes
impartial information and signposting during pregnancy
physical and emotional support through birth, using non-medicalised approaches such as massage, aromatherapy, talking, rebozo, movement etc…
advocacy support through pregnancy and birth
postnatal visits for practical and emotional support
While this personal service will always be a goal for healthcare professionals in the UK and around the world, it’s always worth asking the question of ‘do they have the time, the resources, the energy to be focusing solely on me?’
Because a doula does. Their personalised guidance and comfort measures that can make a world of difference to getting a positive outcome.
I want a positive birth: how will a doula help?
The thing with positive births is that it’s personal: what one person sees as totally manageable can (at best) disappointing or (at worst) traumatic for someone else.
The trick is to think about what you want from your birth experience: what would you be happy with? What would you like to happen? What do you want to avoid? Once you know that, it’s time to think about how a doula can help you achieve it. Nothing is guaranteed in birth, but research has shown that the presence of a doula can have a real impact on how a birth and postnatal period plays out. In short, having a doula can lead to…
39% decrease in the relative risk of Caesarean
15% increase in the likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth
Increased success with initiation of breastfeeding (92% of doula breastfeeding in comparison to the national rate of 81%)
Increased success with maintaining breastfeeding (60% of doula clients still breastfeeding at their 6 week visit in comparison to the national average of 24%)
In addition to these figures, the Cochrane review found that doulas also contributed to…
Reduced need for painkillers or epidural during birth † *.
Reduced rate of induction of labour † *.
Shorter labour †.
Increased parental satisfaction with the birth experience. †
Lower incidence of depressive symptomatology †.
Improve equity and provide culturally responsive care
So… should I get a doula?
Only you can answer that.
It all depends on what you want the birth of your baby to be like, and how you want to feel during it.
Birth is unpredictable and unknowable, but if there are certain things you want (or definitely don’t want) having the right doula by your side can really help to make that happen.
But if you’re anywhere other than a definite no, perhaps sitting on the fence, it always pays to find out more before
Come along to the ‘What do doulas do?’ virtual session or book in a free consultation chat to get your questions and answered and a confident decision made.
