What the heck is a doula? March 2, 2010

Here is the official definition from www.dona.org:

What is a doula?

The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” and 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; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.

A Birth Doula

• Recognizes birth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life
• Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor
• Assists the woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth
• Stays with the woman throughout the labor
• Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint, as well as helping the woman get the information she needs to make informed decision
• Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her clinical care providers
• Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting the woman’s memory of the birth experience
• Allows the woman’s partner to participate at his/her comfort level

A birth doula certified by DONA International is designated by the initials CD(DONA).

Research evidence shows that the quality services of a postpartum doula can ease the transition that comes with the addition of a baby to a family, improve parental satisfaction and reduce the risk of mood disorders.

Kalenn’s thought of the day March 2, 2010

A few years go, I was fortunate enough to come across the “Law of Attraction” through the book/dvd “The Secret”.  This changed my entire life.  I learned that I can attract positive or negative experiences into my life, based on my thoughts, expectations, words and actions.  Fortunately for me, this information came to me shortly before I became pregnant with my first child.  I decided to try it out.  Instead of listening to the media, friends and neighbors, and even complete strangers telling me about the horrors of childbirth, I decided that I could expect a wonderful, easy, short birth.  I fully educated myself and my husband during that pregnancy on labor and birth, and we took a wonderful childbirth course (in this case, a Bradley Method class) to prepare us.  I wrote up a detailed birth plan and description on how my labor would go, and how I would feel about it, and I read it often in my last trimester.  I developed a confidence in my own strength, physical and emotional, and entered birth knowing I had done everything I could to make it wonderful.  I had no fear, just excitement.  I ended up with a magical experience.  My husband served as an incredible, trained, labor coach, and assisted me through the birth until the end. I had a 5 1/2 hour labor, and delivered my beautiful daughter completely unmedicated, with a smile on my face (most of the time!) and was fortunate enough to have not torn at all.  I did the same thing with my second birth, with the knowledge that if I had done it once, I could do it even better the second time!  My sons’ birth was even shorter and easier than my first!

I firmly believe that if I had not had the proper mentality and confidence in myself, as well as the education and practice of comfort techniques, that my experience could have been much different.  We get what we want in life.  We can have wonderful experiences in childbirth.  Decide today what kind of birth you want, and do everything you can to prepare for it.