| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| hipmamato4 |
Posted - Jan 11 2009 : 5:02:29 PM
A few people have inquired about doulas and the birth work that I occasionally mention on MJF. I wanted to give some basic info about becoming a doula in case anyone is interested.
Doula is a Greek word that means "woman's servant". In modern times, a doula is a woman who accompanies another woman who is pregnant through her birth and sometimes afterwords. There are two main (sometimes three) kinds of doulas. The first is the birth doula, who is experienced in pregnancy, labor and birth. The second is a postpartum doula, who is experienced in the postpartum period which includes caring for baby, breastfeeding and in general, helping mom around the house. This is kindof like what your mother did when you had babies. She'd come and care for you AND the baby and the house. The third, that is getting more common, is the Antepartum doula, who helps not just after the birth, but will often help before the birth as well. This would be for the mom on bedrest, the mom carrying multiples, moms with special needs, or the mom with several children who is overwhelmed and just needing extra hands.
Anyone can become a doula, it doesn't matter if you had/have children or not, or had an unmedicated birth or not. Since I am a birth doula, I'll give you more info on that. There is no need to become certified, although there are advantages to it. You can call yourself a doula if you have an interest in birth and have attended (in a supportive manner) many births. However, certification is highly recommended to ensure a level of knowledge of the birth process and also a high level of standard of care. It's important o note that doulas Are NOT midwives, nor do we take part in any medical decisions or giving medical advice. We can help our clients find medical information and make educated informed decisions, but we are not there for any medical reason.
There are numerous certifying agencies. The best known one is Dona International. The oldest one is ALACE and there are several others with great programs. Childbirth International has a great training program, (but some places don't recognize this foreign program.) Another one is called CAPPA, which also has a training program. Sorry I don't have links for all of them. If you do a search you will find the sites.
Dona, Intl
ALACE
CAPPA
Chilbirth Intl
Those are the big ones. There are smaller ones as well, I'm sure.
For certification, one typically must attend a 3-4 day workshop and then complete numerous reading requirements at home. After that, most agencies also require that you attend about 3-5 births and then get evaluated by nurses, docs, moms, etc or write up an evaluation yourself of the experience. Getting births is a little intimidating, but it does happen. You can volunteer with a teen program, attend your children's birth, a friends, or someone that you just met and told what you do. It really depends on who you are and who you know, but usually the births can be done in a year. The whole certifying proecess is usually completed in a year or so, but can definitely be done faster, too.
The cost of the program is usually about $300-500, which includes the workshop and certification, but not any required reading. The amount that you get paid to attend a birth varies considerably. In NYC, you might make $2000, but elsewhere you might get $300. I am in Pennsylvania and we get about $500-600 a birth.
When someone calls or emails me we usually have a conversation over the phone to get to know what the mom is looking for. Sometimes people don't click and sometimes they do. If a mom would like to meet with me after our initial conversation we will set up a FREE meeting usually at her home, with partner present. At that meeting we get to know one another and I get to know her priorities for the birth. Some women want epidurals, but still want a doula for support, others want no meds, others just want to avoid a c-section. I have a mom now who had double mastectomy, cervical cancer, with a morphine pump in her spine. She never thought she could get pregnant, but she is and she is high risk right now. Another birth I just attended was a 44 yo woman, underwent invitro, unmarried, lost the twin at 4 months, and was having an induction for a blood clotting disorder. Obviously, their priorities are different than that for a Mennonite mom having baby #5. Throughout it all, the doula has to be able to put her own birth experiences and priorities aside, because it is THEIR birth! Not mine. It takes a while to be able to do that, because most doulas are passionate about birth and that means almost all of us really advocate for unmedicated births. But after awhile you see the benefit of just being there as a support and you learn to put your personal feelings aside.
At that initial visit we give them lots of great EVIDENCED BASED birth information. Evidenced based means that the procedures and anything that could happen are based on what studies say is the best thing to do. There is SOOOO much that is done in obstetirecs that is NOT evidenced based. (Like most of it.) So, we are there to help educate moms and dads..if they want. Some people just want the support, not the education. But we try. We leave a contract at that visit and a fee schedule also. If they hire us (I work with a partner) then from that point on, we are available to help them with whatever info they need. They update us after visits to their care provider, etc. We also have two more meetings where we just talk about anything that comes up, allay fears, and make sure that they have things planned realistically. Then, from 38-42 weeks, we are officially "on-call". So at any point, day or night, they can call us to say that they think labor is starting. When we decide it is time to go be with them (usually at the start of active labor, 3-4-5 cm dilated) we go and assist them with relaxation, position changes (crucial), remind them to eat and drink, and go potty, and just be there in general, helping to make the experience for both mom and dad be what they had hoped for. We go to the place of birth and stay with them unil the birth and about an hour or so after, to help with breast feeding. I have only had one mom so far who didn't at least TRY to breast feed initially.
You learn a lot as you go. It's amazing just to see how the natural process unfolds every time in such a patterned way, but yet different every time. You learn how to rotate posterior babies and help ease discomfort in the back, etc. A huge amount of what we do is just lots of encouragement and telling mom she is amazing and strong and she is moving mountains!
Following the birth , we are available over the phone or email if they have ANY questions or need resources for postpartum depression, or lactation consultants, support groups, etc. We also do one postpartum visit to officially meet the new babe and to process together how the birth went and their feelings about labor support. It is so nice to hear that you were helpful. The doctor (a family physician who "delivers" babies) whose birth I attended a few days ago, told her husband a few minutes after the birth, "See, I told you this would be the best moeny we ever spent on this birth!" It was a nice compliment, but I am always reminding myself that this work is not about me and making me feel good. It's about THEIR experience, the experience (that studies show) a mom will remember minute details even into old age. Because how we are brought into this world matters. It matter to moms, but it also matters to babies. There are all kinds of statistics and studies that prove this.
Every day we are surrounded by women who tell horrible birth stories, but if you do this long enough, you realize that the stories were horrible not (usually) because of what happened or didn't happen. The bad experiences are usually because mom wasn't supported by experienced hands and had lots of fear. I have seen it time and again that even when a mom has a negative outcome--c/s , induction, etc) they will describe a really positive birth having had lots of emotional and physical support, in spite of an outcome that was less than what they had hoped. Dads too, are a great support and mothers almost always want dad ther, but dads have no experience with birth and nearly 100% of the time are happy to have the doula there to guide the process. It takes so much stress and fear off of the dads. And it goes back thousands of years when women were traditionally supported by women. Anyone read "The Red Tent??" IT's a perfect example.
Ok,I could go one for a long time. Can you tell? I have been doing this for about 3 1/2 years. I have attended between 40 and 50 births at about 12 different area hospitals, home and birth center births. I have attended births whose moms have had c-sections, unmedicated births, babies with genetic defects, forceps deliveries, vaccum deliveries, inductions, epidurals, narcotics, herbal inductions, teen births, and one ALMOST unassisted birth. I have a great relationship with a lot of area midwives and even some of the doctors. It is such an honor to be invited to the most memorable event that these families will ever have. Just being present at the moment a new person enters the world makes you a better person. It's a great and rewarding profession. I hope that you are inspired to consider it for yourself!
Homebirthing, home-schooling mama to 4 awesome kids, living an idyllic country life in Pennsylvania |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Jan 11 2009 : 7:31:43 PM
That was very interesting. How neat to just be there to support someone and see a baby's birth.
So you are just there basicaly for support and to calm the mother and let her know what to be expecting? You have no medical training? I've seen doulahs on birthing shows and they are so calm and get the mothers to relax and just go with the pain.
Thanks for so much info. This is sure something to think about.
Kris
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. Maori proverb |
| K-Falls Farmgirl |
Posted - Jan 11 2009 : 5:09:07 PM
Very interesting and informative, Thank you for posting.
http://www.k-fallsfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Come visit the barn at http://barndoorcreations.blogspot.com/
Cheryl
Farmgirl #309
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." Maya Angelou |
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