Tag: Birth Doula

3 Reasons to Hire a Doula

There are a million reasons that people hire a doula, and I’m only listing three here. As I have written before, families deserve support and doulas know a few things that can help you along the way. I love winning over the skeptics. I honestly find that many of the partners who were skeptical in the first place become the doula’s biggest fan when they meet us and see us in action. Birth and postpartum can be challenging; doulas are here to help.

1. Personalized Care

When you hire a doula you are getting a pregnancy, birth, and postpartum BFF who knows all kinds of great information and resources to send you. Doulas get to know you and what you want for your birth and the beginning of your life with a new baby. Sometimes you scour the internet and ask in parent groups online only to find conflicting and confusing advice. A doula can help you sift through that information for what you really need, what is evidence-based, and what will help you toward your own personal goals. We know about about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

2. Navigation

Navigating the healthcare system is challenging, and doulas can help with that too. When you hire a doula you get a professional person who knows the trail and can help you navigate the twists and turns. We have worked with many of the local providers in Evansville and Owensboro, and I always joke that we know all the stuff on the secret menu too. What I mean is that knowing the right things to request at the hospital can be extra helpful.

3. Zero Judgement

Hiring a doula means you have a completely non-judgemental person with professional support training and zero personal interest, because that is good and important thing. Doulas are there to serve you without agenda. We know our opinion is irrelevant and we are there to serve the birthing person and their partner. So no matter if you are planning to get an epidural as soon as possible, birthing at home with a midwife, or planning a scheduled cesarean, we can help.

Don’t take my word for it…

“Couples often wonder if they should hire a doula. Maybe your friends had wonderful births and didn’t hire a doula, why should you? All I can say is that doulas are like guides for the trek of labor. They know the landscape, are familiar with the people, sights, and sounds, and know special tricks that just might help you over a peak or through a valley or help facilitate that magical experience that lands firmly in your memory forever. And doulas are there for the whole family. They support partners, too, helping them understand what’s going on, get food, rest, and much needed breaks, and they can also guide partners in better ways to support the laboring parent. You do not have to go it alone. There are others who have trekked before you and know the way. Ask them for help.” (Transformed by Birth by Dr. Britta Bushnell, p136)

The path may be well worn, but sometimes having a doula can make it more enjoyable. Hire a doula to help you move around and suggest position changes. Hire a doula so your partner can go to the bathroom without leaving you alone. Maybe everything medical makes your partner nauseous. If you want someone there to go through it all with you, hire a doula. A doula works for you and nobody else, and that can be invaluable on one of the biggest days of your life.

Helpful Tools for Birth**

Learning about helpful tools for birth before you get there can mean you know what to ask for and how to use the things available to you! This can improve your confidence and birth experience.

Not all labors and deliveries are the same, but using tools can be a great thing for almost every birth. The same tools don’t work for every situation but learning what is available, when, and how to use them is really helpful! **Don’t worry, none of the tools in the picture are used for labor or delivery.** No matter where you are planning to give birth, there are tools that you can use. These are my top 3 most helpful tools for birth!

The Birth Ball

The birth ball is really just an exercise ball that gets a fancier name in labor and delivery. There are a ton of ways to use the birth ball during pregnancy, labor, & postpartum. These are very versatile and helpful tools for birth. You can use it by sitting and bouncing with less upward pressure while you still have a baby inside. You can lean on it. Kicking it works too. You can do all kinds of things with this ball. (I advise against sit-ups on it while in labor.) The birth ball opens up your pelvis and keeps you out of bed while laboring. Moving your hips in a circular motion keeps you moving too. I’ve had several clients just want to bounce on it in labor. I spent months postpartum bouncing on a ball to keep my firstborn happy. Ask for the ball when you arrive at the hospital! If you are planning a home birth, you should plan to purchase one in the right size for you.

Peanut Ball

Every time I see a yellow peanut ball, I cannot help but think of minions while simultaneously wanting to draw a monocle on them. Peanut balls might look funny, but there is science behind these amazingly helpful tools for birth. Contrary to what some might believe, you can absolutely use a peanut ball if you do not have an epidural! They are great for parents with epidurals too though. Peanut balls help keep your pelvis open while you are resting. There are all kinds of positions for using this ball. Learning about how to use it to shorten your labor before you go is a great thing to do. Seriously, ask for the peanut ball! I will warn you that if you don’t have an epidural, using a peanut ball can be uncomfortable, but it can also be very effective.

Bed + Squat Bar

Staying out of bed is a great thing for while you are laboring, but hospital beds can also be helpful. I love to request the squat bar attachment to the bed for laboring and pushing. I also like to call them Go-Go-Gadget Beds because of how many different positions and options they have. This is why the whole bed plus the squat bar is really a helpful tool for birth. Squatting has all kinds of benefits for birth, but it can be exhausting if you try to do it without breaks or without preparing yourself. You can even use a squatting position for pushing or wrap a sheet around the bar to pull on while you lean back. There are lots of possibilities when you know your options and how to use them.

FYI: If you are planning a home birth, finding places to squat and learning to do a supported squat with your partner or doula are great alternatives to the bed. Looking around your house and finding places to do all the best birth positions is something I always like to do at prenatal visits with home birth clients. Bonus: your midwife might bring along some of the things from my wish list below!

Tool Wishlist:

The bottom line is this: There is no one set of helpful tools for birth that will work for everyone. Having more tools in your tool box and knowing how to use those can give you more options. Practice using these tools if you can, or even just watch some helpful videos. You can bring more tools with you too if you’d like. Heck, even dancing can be a helpful for birth!

If you’d like to come learn more coping techniques, including getting to practice with these balls before labor, we have a class for that! Spend 3 hours on a Saturday morning learning more tools and non-medical coping techniques for labor and delivery. Here are the dates and links to sign up if you are interested:

15 Doula Lessons from 2019

As an experienced birth doula learning is important to me, and I grow with each birth I attend!

Every single birth I attend is an opportunity to serve a family. I am always honored to be invited into that space. With more than 5 years under my belt as a birth doula, I still feel like I learn things each time. Even as I inch closer to 150 births attended, I am always in awe of the process and my amazing clients. I will never feel like I have seen it all, and this year definitely brought some surprises. Instead of posting statistics about how many births I have attended, I prefer to post about doula lessons that I have learned this past year. Some of these have reinforced things I learned previously, and others have challenged me in new ways. This year has been interesting in so many ways, and I love that I keep growing and learning along the way.

Here is my list of 15 doula lessons in no particular order:

1. In childbirth, faster is not always easier.

2. I don’t have to agree with all of your decisions to support you.

3. A little determination goes a very long way for labor and delivery.

4. Communication and trauma informed care are not taught to all medical providers.

5. Rice socks smell like burnt popcorn if you microwave them for too long.

6. Home birth can be beautiful beautiful beautiful! Make sure to remind people to PRACTICE with their birthing tub at home!

7. Things I may view as traumatic, may not be viewed the same as my client. Don’t project my views onto other people’s memories. Recovering from a challenging birth is really important for me, physically AND emotionally.

8. Sometimes I burst into tears at the magnificence of it all, and that is ok.

9. Repeat clients are seriously, just the best! VBACs are pretty amazing too.

10. Watch the partner’s face; those glimpses of true joy and love are amazing!

11. LISTEN to the birthing person; their opinion matters.

12. Sometimes clients still surprise me with their ferocity, and I LOVE that!

13. Amazing providers who give individualized care and continue to consider experience and preference over standard operating procedure give me hope! All the preparation in the world cannot make up for an unsupportive provider.

14. Trusting my doula gut when it says GO is still the right thing to do.

15. Patience is undervalued and wholly necessary.

2019’s doula lessons were not easy, and this is certainly not going to be a year that I will soon forget. As I grow in my doula knowledge and skills I am also constantly reminded of how much I really don’t know. These doula lessons all help to increase my confidence and capacity to deal with new situations, hopefully with grace and humility.