What is a Doula?
And why are they an important?
A doula is a trained support person for birthing mothers and their partner. Giving birth is a life changing experience. And it’s a right of passage. Support from a doula means that you are supported emotionally, physically, educationally, and spiritually.
Traditionally, women would give birth with their closest female companions surrounding her. For instance, her sisters, friends, mothers, daughters, grandmothers are present. For instance, they’d massage the birthing mother, apply pressure, pray with her, apply cool rags to her forehead, and basically do anything and everything they could to ensure she felt supported. As a result, the support women would help the birthing mother to make her feel comfortable and in control of her birth. This is what your modern day doula does, but with a few extra tricks for pain management and relaxation up her sleeve!
Somewhere along the line births became more of a medical event. But, we’ll discuss this another day.
Doulas are important! It has been proven through research that having a doula present leads to less unnecessary medical interventions and more positive birth experiences:
-28% less likely to have a cesarean birth
-31% less likely to use oxytocin to speed up labor
-9% less likely to use pain medication
-35% less likely to rate their childbirth experience negatively (Hodnett 2011)
Would you have a doula present at your birth? Learn more about Joy In Birth and Beyond Doula Services.
Joy In Birth and Beyond
Labor Support for You
Joy in Birth and Beyond is a doula service dedicated to supporting mothers before, during and after birth. Giving birth is a beautiful and memorable journey, no matter how it’s done. Therefore, having a doula present to support mothers through this journey has proven to lead to more successful births. Joy in Birth and Beyond is pleased to offer support to mothers in Elk, Allegheny, and surrounding counties. For more about our doula services, like us on facebook.