Questions about doulas and doula services

Who is a doula?

A doula is a trained birth companion who:

  • Recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life
  • Understands the physiology of birth and the
    emotional needs of a woman in labor
  • Assists the woman and her partner in preparing or and carrying out their plans for the birth
  • Stays by the side of the laboring woman
    throughout the entire labor
  • Provides emotional support, physical comfort
    measures, an objective viewpoint and assistance to the woman in getting the information she needs to make informed decisions
  • Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and clinical careproviders
  • Nutures and protects the woman’s memory of her birth experience

What are the benefits?

Studies have shown these results when a
doula is present:

  • Fathers participate with more confidence
  • Greater success in breastfeeding
  • More maternal satisfaction
  • Fewer neonatal admissions after birth
  • Less pre- and post-natal stress
  • Less likelihood of post-partum depression
  • Overall cesarean rate decreased 50%
  • Length of labor decreased 25%
  • Pitocin use decreased 40%
  • Mother’s request for pain medication decreased 30%
  • 40% less need for a forceps delivery