Birth
A birthing doula’s role is to help you have a positive and safe birth experience.
During the months before birth, a doula can help you create a birth plan that’s right for you. She will also teach you how to advocate for yourself during labor. This is especially wonderful if you need to or want to labor in the hospital where you’re unlikely to have a close relationship with your medical team.
A birth doula also helps with:
Breathing techniques
Relaxation techniques
Laboring positions
Massage for comfort
Making sure you eat and drink enough
Letting you know when it’s time to go to the hospital or birthing center (if necessary)
What are the benefits of having a birth doula?
Many studies have shown that the addition of a doula to a woman’s birth team can benefit the mother in numerous ways.
A Cochrane review updated in 2012 compiled data from 22 trials of 15,000 women whose birth experiences included women who had different kinds of continuous support during labor or none at all.
The results? Women who had continuous support, especially from a doula, were more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births and less likely to have any pain medication, epidurals, vacuum or forceps-assisted births, C-sections, or negative feelings about childbirth.
Other benefits include:
Increased chance of a positive childbirth experience
higher breastfeeding success rate
better maternal self esteem
lower blood pressure during labor
less pain experienced
If interventions are medically necessary, a doula can help support the mother emotionally so she can have a positive birth experience despite changes in her birth plan. She also can find ways to make it more natural in the midst of interventions.
If you would like to create your best birth experience click the link below.
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““When my husband and I sat down with Jayni for the first time, we instantly decided she was who we wanted to help with the birth of our first child. Her personality is warm and professional. I left the meeting feeling confident that I could achieve the birth I wanted with her help.
Contractions started at 2AM, they were every 2-3 minutes and very intense. My labor did not start out slowly like all of the birth classes and books said it would. By 4AM we called Jayni and she came right over. At this point the contractions were very intense and I began doubting whether I could achieve the medication-free birth I had originally desired. Jayni talked me through each contraction, reminding me how strong I am and how good I was doing. She helped to remind me of my goals and that I was absolutely capable of getting through this.
At 7AM we decided to go to the hospital. When we arrived Jayni helped navigate the nurses and clerks who needed to take blood pressures and have me sign tons of paperwork. She was able to advocate for me during the times when I literally couldn’t pay attention to what was happening around me. During the remainder of labor and pushing Jayni was right by my side, continuing to encourage me and give me validation that I could do this. At 8:55AM our baby girl was born. Jayni stayed with me during my stitches while my husband was holding our daughter.
My labor and birth went very quickly. I didn’t even have time for an IV or bloodwork. Without Jayni’s guidance and expertise, I may have been one of those stories where they didn’t make it to the hospital in time!
My husband and I feel so satisfied and overjoyed with our labor and birth story. Everything went how we wanted it and I genuinely believe that wouldn’t be the case if Jayni hadn’t been our doula. Jayni was calm, non-judgemental and advocated for my wishes throughout the entire process. I highly recommend her and cannot wait for her to be with us for our next child’s birth.”
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