By Nicola Goodall
“Doulas are like fairy godmothers…..” Kate – had a birth doula for the birth of her first child.
“….having a postnatal doula made all the difference to the family – as it turned out we really needed the support…..” Liz – had a postnatal doula after the birth of her second child.
If I had a pound for every time someone had asked me this question over the last five years or so I’d be a rich woman! The truth is there’s no simple answer. Women have always supported each other during pregnancy, birth and the first few months of motherhood and doula’s are really just an extension of that support. In the tradition of family help around this time the doula is really there to do whatever is needed by the mother. This is one reason why the rich diversity between doulas works so well. One woman may just need to hear from someone with confidence that she can birth her baby during pregnancy; another may hire a doula to protect her birth environment if she’s lost trust in the NHS, another to provide help around the house after the birth for a few weeks and the list goes on and on.
Antenatally ideally a mother becomes friends with her doula; she develops a relationship of trust. As the friendship grows the more likely it is that the support becomes an intrinsic part of the exchange – the doula is more likely to be intuitive to what the mother wants and needs during birth and indeed afterwards. Along her journey a doula will pick up a lot of knowledge and where appropriate will share this with the family – importantly she is objective and can present you with all the options available to you not just the ones deemed appropriate by the local trusts policies and guidelines.
Many of us are trained in other disciplines too – amongst our community in Edinburgh we have a trained chef, an ex-midwife, a very experienced homeopath, birth educators, massage therapists and we have plenty of children between us bringing experiences of a hundred more professions!!
During the labour and the birth the research speaks volumes. A woman who has another woman with her who has given birth will reduce her risks of a Caesarean section by half and also greatly reduce her need for assisted delivery (forceps or ventouse) and an epidural. Why? Well continuity of carer is pertinent to all healthcare but never more so than during the intimate, vulnerable and some would even say sexual experience of birth.
Postnatally a doula will “mother the mother” – maybe cooking, caring, cleaning, washing, listening, boosting confidence and reassuring the mother that she is the consummate expert on her baby – no-one knows how to nurture that life like she does!
If the idea of a doula is appealing to you then the Scottish Doula Network is a wonderful place to explore the idea further. Here you can look at the research and find almost all the doulas working in and around Scotland. All doula’s will meet with you to have a chat prior to being contracted – my advice would be to meet as many as you possibly can before you decide who’ll be the best for you and your family. Its an invaluable resource, may not prove as expensive as you may think and may make the most important moments of your life even more precious, relaxing and empowering.