Soooo Lost HELP

[Booo]

What do you ask a doula? (as in prep for your birth)

[fai firinne]

You can start with your vision for your birth. How you see yourself in labour, how you are moving your body, where you might be walking, what the atmosphere looks and feels like. Who are the people nearby, how are they supporting you? What do you imagine yourself doing with your body, your voice, your breath, your mind as the contractions get stronger and you begin to push. As you visualise this, is starts to crystalise what you want - and what you don't want - for your birth.

Then you and your doula can look at what choices and what preparation are going to best support your goals and vision for the birth you want, the birth you see yourself doing. Things like, what location? what careproviders? which model of care? which support people? how you'd like the environment and the 'vibe' to be like? Comfort measures? What would help you feel most uninhibited, most relaxed, most safe & secure, most free to move your body freely etc.

You and your doula might talk about lifestyle things you could do during pregnancy to support your intended goals, such as exercise, nutrition, relaxation, chiropractic or osteopath care, massage, optimal foetal positioning, etc. You might discuss specific strategies for preparation such as perineal massage, pelvic mapping, hip manouvres, rebozo and positioning that can help "make space" in the pelvis and help you get to know what your unique pelvis is like and how to maximize its advantages, use gravity etc. You might practice some relaxation, breath work or visualisations.

Your doula may be able to offer suggestions and provide helpful resources such as books, articles, DVDs etc. But it is your body, your birth and your life so you get to 'tailor-make' it to suit you, your values and just basically what 'works' for you.

You might discuss how birth hormones work and how 'unhindered' birth practices maximise the peak release of these hormones that 'drive' the labour, make everything soft and stretchy, and provide pain relief and relaxation.

You might want to talk about your wishes immediately after the birth, how you want your baby handled or not, and how you want your placenta dealt with and on what time frame. You could also talk about your wishes regarding bonding, skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding etc.

Your doula might be able to describe to you the usual protocols and time-tables used in most hospitals, and discuss alternatives with you if you are not sure the standard hospital time-lines are what you want. Such as:

* if you are still pregnant beyond 42 weeks
* if you don't desire 4 hourly vaginal exams
* if your waters break and contractions don't start within 18 hours
* if your cervix does not dilate on average 1 cm per hour
* if you take longer than 2 hours to push out the baby
* if your placenta does not come out within an hour (or even half and hour in some places)

HTH - all the best!