What is a Doula?
The word "Doula" is a Greek word meaning "a woman who serves". A Labor Doula is a woman who provides physical, emotional and educational support during pregnancy, labor, birth and the postpartum period. A Labor Doula:
* Recognizes birth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life
* Understand the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor
* Assists the women in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth
* Stays with the woman throughout the labor
* Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, an objective viewpoint, as well as helping the woman get the information she needs to make informed decisions
* 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
* Reduces the overall cesarean rate by roughly 50%
* Reduces the length of labor by 25%
* Reduces the need for pain medication and forceps by 30%
* Reduces requests for epidurals by 60%
* Increases success in breastfeeding
* Greater maternal satisfaction*
*Klaus, Marshall H., M.D., Klaus, Phyllis M.,Ed., and Kennel, John, M.D., Mothering the Mother. NY: Addison-Wesley, 1993.
