What is a doula??

[gailbaby1]

Hi

I may sound stupid in asking this question but i am from the uk and i have never known of a doula before?
Can anyone please explain? in the UK we have midwifes and doctors and thats all the choice we have.

I am finding it difficult to decide what path to take to have my baby and i need to try and get myself sorted asap.

Any advice would be great

Gail

[QTB]

Doula’s have been expertly trained to support women in labour and to help comfort and ease the pains of labour. They specifically serve women during pregnancy, at the onset of labour, through the first few hours of the birth of the baby and the postnatal period.

Doulas do not perform clinical tasks such as fetal heart monitoring or internal exams. Instead, a Doula’s purpose is to support the labouring mother both physically and mentally to help her achieve the birth experience she desires, and to assist

the father in performing comfort measures for the mother so that the father can take a more active physical and emotional role in the birth.


:D

[lilpearl]

What Mel said :)

As midwives are so very very busy these days, they are not often able to offer the continual support that midwives of old did. A doula is there to fill that role, taking care of all comfort measures. Even if a doula is also a midwife, if she is employed as your doula she is still not allowed to perform any clinical task. However, a lot of midwives are now completing a doula course as further study in the area of supporting women through birth. A lot of women complete a doula course before a midwifery course (like myself), and I believe it is a great foundation, enabling one to take on a true midwifery view of birth, or reinforcing that view if it was already held.

Employig a doula helps reduce the rate of intervention in birth, including epidural use, induction and augmentation of labour, and instrumental/caesarean birth, leading to better birth outcomes, including more birth satisfaction being expressed by mothers.

The main reasons for the great birth outcomes is 1/ continuity of care....a woman gets to know her doula throughout pregnancy , and the doula stays with the mother throughout labour and birth, without going home at the end of shift, etc.. 2/ The doula is trained in the normal phisiological process of birth, including the role of the brain/hormones/pelvis in labour, and therefore helps a mother to stay upright, stay calm, and supports her decision-making by offering unbiassed information on anything relating to pregnancy, birth and motherhood....this often helps avoid the 'cascade of intervention' that can occure after inducton of labour/epidural use, etc.

The physical, emotional suppprt a doula offers, together with the information a doula is able to share to empower a mother, all helps facilitate a straight-forward birth experience. After All, birth is a rite-of-passage, and all mothers and babies deserve the very best journey for them. :)

Congratulations on your pregnancy!! :D

[gailbaby1]

Thankyou so much for this information, as it is my first child i think this maybe something i would be very interested in

[lilpearl]

You're welcome :) The support of a good doula is wonderful! (I'm saying that as someone who had a doula at my last birth, not just as a doula ;) )

[Alina0210]

yep there are Doulas in the UK...

They have a website:
http://www.doula.org.uk/

[TwoBoysOnly]

What Mel said :)

As midwives are so very very busy these days, they are not often able to offer the continual support that midwives of old did. A doula is there to fill that role, taking care of all comfort measures. Even if a doula is also a midwife, if she is employed as your doula she is still not allowed to perform any clinical task. However, a lot of midwives are now completing a doula course as further study in the area of supporting women through birth. A lot of women complete a doula course before a midwifery course (like myself), and I believe it is a great foundation, enabling one to take on a true midwifery view of birth, or reinforcing that view if it was already held.

Employig a doula helps reduce the rate of intervention in birth, including epidural use, induction and augmentation of labour, and instrumental/caesarean birth, leading to better birth outcomes, including more birth satisfaction being expressed by mothers.

The main reasons for the great birth outcomes is 1/ continuity of care....a woman gets to know her doula throughout pregnancy , and the doula stays with the mother throughout labour and birth, without going home at the end of shift, etc.. 2/ The doula is trained in the normal phisiological process of birth, including the role of the brain/hormones/pelvis in labour, and therefore helps a mother to stay upright, stay calm, and supports her decision-making by offering unbiassed information on anything relating to pregnancy, birth and motherhood....this often helps avoid the 'cascade of intervention' that can occure after inducton of labour/epidural use, etc.

The physical, emotional suppprt a doula offers, together with the information a doula is able to share to empower a mother, all helps facilitate a straight-forward birth experience. After All, birth is a rite-of-passage, and all mothers and babies deserve the very best journey for them. :)

Congratulations on your pregnancy!! :D

Well said as usual ;) I think doulas are FANTASTIC - and that is from a midwives point of view - they can do everything that we can't do because we are tied to the desk filling out paperwork :mad: That is why I am going to do my doula studies so I can practice what I set out to practice - supporting women and their babies :yes:

[mysonroger]

what sort of costs are associated with having a doula. and is 13 weeks to go too late to get one? although, i'm sure its not?!