What is a Doula?

 

The word doula comes from the ancient Greek meaning a woman who serves. Doulas are also known as professional labor support. The word doula is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after birth. ​A postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period. ​At Nurture Me, our doulas offer professional pregnancy and labor support so that you can have the best birth possible for you and your family. Studies have shown that when doulas attend births, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier, and babies breastfeed more easily (DONA, 2014).

 

What Do Birth Doulas Do?

 

Birth Doulas...​

 

Recognize birth as a key experience a mother will remember all her life​-Understand the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor​

 

Assist a woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth​

 

Stay with a woman throughout her labor​

 

Provide emotional support, physical comfort measures, and an objective viewpoint, as well as help a woman get the information she needs to make informed decisions​

 

Facilitate communication between a laboring woman, her partner, and her clinical care providers​-Perceive their role as nurturing and protecting a woman's memory of her birth experience​

 

Allow the woman's partner to participate at his/her comfort level.

 

 

Why Use a Doula?

Women have complex needs during childbirth and the weeks that follow. In addition to medical care and the love and companionship provided by their partners, women need consistent, continuous reassurance, comfort, encouragement, and respect. They need individualized care based on their circumstances and preferences. DONA International Doulas are educated and experienced in childbirth and the postpartum period. We are prepared to provide physical (non-medical), emotional, and informational support to women and their partners during labor and birth, as well as to families in the weeks following childbirth. We offer a loving touch, positioning, and comfort measures that make childbearing women and families feel nurtured and cared for (DONA, 2014).