why hire a doula?
Do you really need a doula to have a good birth experience?
A doula can make a huge difference in the way women experience their pregnancy and birth.
Doulas can provide emotional support and evidence-based information, an educated perspective, and hands-on support during the hardest trials of labor.
Doulas help parents to find calm and confidence in their own skills, when they’re feeling anxious or unprepared about any aspect of pregnancy, labor, birth, recovery and parenting a newborn.
But, really – do you NEED a doula? Let’s consider this more deeply…
Doulas are usually extremely well-educated about birth, but more importantly, they tend to be passionate about the birth experience.
They’re also trained in the nuanced arts of empathy and communication.
Doulas are deeply compassionate people, yet they’re obviously not as emotionally attached to the laboring woman as a family member would be.
This gives them the advantage of retaining a less biased perspective – yet they also will share a closer relationship with the birthing family than a doctor or nurse would.
Research has shown again and again that sustained reassurance and presence of a labor support person can drastically shorten the duration of a mother’s labor, and can lead to better health outcomes for both mothers and babies.
Women who give birth with a doula report less pain, fear, and stress both during their births and afterward.
Even dads report a higher degree of satisfaction with the birthing experience when they have a doula.
That’s because doulas are able to help dads in supporting their partners more skillfully. A dad who is aided in supporting his partner during labor gains confidence as a father from day one. This helps with attachment and bonding for the whole family as a unit.
In a culture where we’ve all but lost our mothering traditions – doulas are a step toward bridging that gap.
Underneath our cultural conditioning, we are all mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers.
We can still unconsciously tap into that deep feminine connection we share to give birth powerfully, confidently, without fear or stress.
From specific hands-on comfort measures, a wealth of knowledge and experience, and compassionate emotional connection, doulas are committed to changing the culture of birth – one family at a time.
Visit me at RethinkBirth.com and grab my Birth Plan Kit.
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