What is a Doula?

I am a trained professional labor support provider who works with women and their families toward the birth experience they desire, one in which they feel knowledgeable and fully empowered to make good choices for mother and baby. Doulas provide labor support in the hospital, at home or in a free-standing birth center, offering emotional, physical and informational support.

Using techniques to encourage and comfort in birth, including massage, positioning and tender emotional care, I remain focused on the mother and her needs and desires throughout labor while encouraging family members as they work to support her. A doula is not a medical provider and will not provide medical interventions or recommendations. I will, however, work with your provider be they a midwife, OB/gyn or family practitioner, to ensure a healthy prenatal period and birth. Think of me as a reference and resource before, during and after the birth of your child.

What I offer as your Doula

• I recognize childbirth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life and work with mother and family to make that experience one remembered with joy and pride.
• I understand the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.
• I assist parents in creating and implementing a birth plan.
• I stay by the side of the laboring woman throughout the entire labor – whether it is a few hours or several days.
• I provide emotional support, physical comfort measures, and an objective viewpoint. I work to ensure women and their families get information they need to make decisions that they feel good about.
• I facilitate communication between the laboring woman, her partner, and clinical care providers.
• I use every resource available to me to nurture and protect the woman’s memory of her birth experience.