Prenatal & Infant Massage: Labor Doula

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

The presence of a doula:

* 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.